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List of contents
One: Economic and Labour Reforms in China; 1: Economic Growth and the Diminishing Role of State-owned Enterprises; 2: Reform of State-owned Enterprises: A Historical Overview; 3: Reform of the Labour and Wage System; 4: Challenges to Reform of State-owned Enterprises; Two: From Labour Insurance to Social Security; 5: Shortcomings of the Labour Insurance Regulations; 6: Establishing a Modern Multi-tier Old-age Pension System; 7: Unemployment Insurance in a Socialist Market Economy; Three: The Guangzhou Experience for the Nation; 8: The First City to Experience Economic Reform; 9: Dismantling the State-owned Enterprises in Guangzhou; 10: Old-age Pension System with Guangzhou Characteristics; 11: New Ventures in Unemployment, Injuries and Death, and Maternity Insurance; Four: A Long and Winding Road of Reform; 12: Has China Established a Socialist Social Security System with Chinese Characteristics?
About the author
Yongxin Zhou, Nelson Chow, Yeubin Xu
Summary
This title was first published in 2001. Using the city of Guangzhou as a case study, this text looks at how China has adopted a market economy, whilst still maintaining state-owned enterprises and an all-embracing social security system which protects the majority of Chinese workers. This volume examines three questions: can socialist social welfare co-exist with the market economy?; can state-owned enterprises survive in a market economy?; and has China succeeded in creating a market economy without sacrificing its socialist ideals? The study demonstrates that compromises have been necessary to accomodate both socialist and market objectives. continuing to support workers with social security benefits has, for example, made enterprises less competitive, and disparities in benefits arise as workers are allowed to supplement the minimum guaranteed income through savings in individual accounts.
