Policy Learning or Diffusion: How China Opened to Foreign Direct Investment

When China embarked on economic reform in the late 1970s, its leaders aspired to learn from Japan's developmental policies that were restrictive of foreign capital. In the 1990s, China strove again to emulate Japan and South Korea in restricting foreign direct investment and promoting indigenous corporations. Despite these efforts, China's industrial catch-up was in fact led by FDI, in sharp contrast to the classic Japanese/Korean paradigm where FDI was strictly circumvented. Why was China unsuccessful in learning restrictive FDI policies? How did a new developmental path emerge in China? The answer lies in China's strong networks with diaspora communities. Through a diffusion mechanism, ties between local governments and diaspora capital helped initiate and catalyze China's FDI liberalization, despite the central efforts to learn from Japan and South Korea. Two critical reform episodes are examined: (1) the establishment of special economic zones and (2) the reform of state-owned enterprises.