China's Contained Resource Curse : How Minerals Shape State-Capital-Labor Relations

237 Pages·2022·4.533 MB·English

by  Jing Vivian Zhan

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China s Contained Resource Curse
As a country rich in mineral resources, contemporary China remains
surprisinglyoverlookedintheresearchaboutthemuchdebated‘resource
curse’.Thisisthefirstfull-lengthstudytoexaminethedistinctiveeffectsof
mineralresourcesonthestate,capitalandlabourandtheirinterrelationsin
China. Jing Vivian Zhan draws on a wealth of empirical evidence, both
qualitativeandquantitative.Takingasubnationalapproach,shezoomsin
on local situations and demonstrates how mineral resources affect local
governance and economic as well as human development. Characterizing
miningindustriesaspro-capitalandanti-labour,thisstudyalsohighlights
the redistributive roles that the state can play to redress the imbalance. It
revealstheChinesestate’sstrategiestocontaintheresourcecurseandalso
pinpoints some pitfalls of the China model, which offer important policy
implicationsforChinaandotherresource-richcountries.
jing vivian zhan is Associate Professor in the Department of
Government&PublicAdministrationatTheChineseUniversityofHong
Kong. She specializes in comparative political economy, contemporary
Chinesepolitics,intergovernmentalrelations,localgovernanceanddevel-
opmentstudies.
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Published online by Cambridge University Press
China’s Contained
Resource Curse
– –
How Minerals Shape State Capital Labor
Relations
jing vivian zhan
TheChineseUniversityofHongKong
Published online by Cambridge University Press
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781316511268
DOI:10.1017/9781009049757
©JingVivianZhan2022
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Firstpublished2022
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Zhan,JingVivian,1978-author.
Title:China’scontainedresourcecurse:howmineralsshapestate-capital-laborrelations
/JingVivianZhan,TheChineseUniversityofHongKong.
Description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY,USA:CambridgeUniversity
Press,2022.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2021033286(print)|LCCN2021033287(ebook)|ISBN
9781316511268(hardback)|ISBN9781009048989(paperback)|ISBN
9781009049757(epub)
Subjects:LCSH:Minesandmineralresources–Politicalaspects–China.|Mineral
industries–Laborproductivity–China.|Naturalresources–China.|BISAC:
POLITICALSCIENCE/PoliticalEconomy
Classification:LCCHD9506.C62Z362022(print)|LCCHD9506.C62(ebook)|DDC
338.20951–dc23
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To Jiji, Feifan, and Chufan,
foryourunendinglove,unfailingsupport,andunceasingdistractions
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Published online by Cambridge University Press
Contents
List of Figures page ix
List of Tables x
Acknowledgments xi
List of Abbreviations xiii
1 Minerals and theState–Capital–Labor Triad 1
China:AnAtypicalResource-RichCountry 1
TheExplorationofMineralResources:WhatHasItBrought
toChina? 5
HowDoResourcesAffectHumanSociety?ExistingDebates 8
MineralsandState–Capital–LaborRelations:ARefinedTheory 13
PlanoftheBook 19
ResearchMethodsandDataSources 21
Appendix1.A ListofFieldSitesandInterviewees 26
Appendix1.B InterviewQuestions 31
2 Minerals, Capital,and Local EconomicDevelopment 38
MineralProductioninChina:AnOverview 38
MineralResourcesandtheChineseEconomy:IsThereaCurse? 43
WhoBenefitsfromtheResourceBoom? 48
TheSpilloverEffectsofResourceCapital 52
ResourcesandCapital:StatisticalEvidence 58
Conclusion 63
Appendix2.A StatisticalAnalysisontheImpactsofResourceson
LocalEconomy 65
3 Resource Extraction and Victimization of Labor 76
MiningIndustry:AnUnfairGame 76
JobOpportunitiesintheMiningSectorandBeyond 84
NegativeExternalitiesofMiningIndustries 88
ImpactsofResourcesonLabor:StatisticalEvidence 96
Conclusion 101
Appendix3.A StatisticalAnalysisontheImpactsofResources
onLabor 105
vii
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viii Contents
4 Resources and LocalState Capture 114
TheState:AKeyPlayer 114
SymbioticRelationshipbetweenLocalStateandResourceCapital 117
CollusionandCorruptionintheResourceSector 119
ResourcesandCorruption:StatisticalEvidence 126
Conclusion 136
Appendix4.A StatisticalAnalysisontheImpactsofResources
onCorruption 138
5 Resources and LocalPublic Goods Provision 148
PublicGoodsProvisioninChina:IncentivesandDisincentives 148
HumanCapitalDevelopmentinResource-RichRegions 150
StabilityMaintenanceandReliefPoliciesinResource-RichRegions 160
ResourcesandPublicGoodsProvision:StatisticalEvidence 162
Conclusion 166
Appendix5.A StatisticalAnalysisontheImpactsofResources
onPublicGoodsProvision 168
6 Coping with the Resource Curse 176
China’sContainedResourceCurse 176
WhatContainstheResourceCurseinChina? 181
ExplainingStateIntervention:CapacityandIncentive 194
WhatLessonsCanWeLearnfromChina? 197
LimitationsandFutureWork 202
References 205
Index 219
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Figures
1.1 Nationalmineralindustrial output (1999–2017) page 2
1.2 Regionalmineralproduction inChina
(1999–2017) 6
1.3 State–capital–laborrelationsin
resource-rich regions 18
2.1 Industrial outputsof major mining industries
(1985–2016) 42
2.2 Resource abundanceand resourcedependence
(1999–2017) 46
2.3 Resource abundanceand economic development
(1999–2017) 46
2.4 Producerprice indicesof coal, petroleum, and
consumer goods(1985–2018) 49
2.5 Totalprofitof miningindustries inChina
(1999–2017) 51
2.6 Anewvillage in amining town, Inner Mongolia 56
3.1 Annual wages in mining and selected sectors
(1999–2019) 77
3.2 Asmall-scale coalmine in Jiangxi Province 79
3.3 Labordisputesintheminingsector(2011–2020) 83
3.4 Employees in the mining sector (2003–2019) 85
3.5 Soil pollution due to rare earthmining in
Jiangxi Province 92
4.1 Mineralresources and corruption rate
(1999–2017) 129
4.2 Distribution of anti-corruption attention across policy
areas (1998–2017) 133
5.1 Composition of large-scale industries in ECity,
Inner Mongolia 153
ix
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