SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: it's a joke to claim the US is better than China for industrialization in the South.

https://x.com/haugejostein/status/2080691073811124624

This claim — that China is de-industrializing the rest of the Global South while the US has helped it industrialize — is one of the most inaccurate claims I've come across in my career as a development economist.

The US actively contributed to de-industrialization in Africa and Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s by dismantling most domestic industrial policy efforts, either directly or via international organisations over which it held outsized influence.

Subsequently, US involvement in the Global South has has not in any meaningful way focused on raising investment rates in manufacturing. If anything, it's been about corporate access to natural resources and setting up sweatshops to serve US consumers.

China, on the other hand, does focus on raising investment rates in manufacturing in the Global South and helps build and provide crucial infrastructure that enables this.

China, of course, is not a magic bullet for industrialization in the Global South. In addition to economic partnerships that have the potential for domestic industrialization, China is a competitive threat.

I recently spoke to an Indonesian government official long involved with Indonesia's industrial policy who essentially shared this view. He described the relationship with China as one with upsides and downsides for industrialization in Indonesia, and the relationship with the US as one with mostly downsides.

On the one hand, he said, China invests in manufacturing and energy infrastructure, provides crucial goods and inputs, and is even willing to engage in technology transfer deals. When I asked about the US, he essentially said they are hunting for natural resources and will threaten with various trade policies if they can't get them.

You can rightfully claim that China's impact on industrialization in the Global South is complicated. But it's a joke to claim the US is better than China for industrialization in the South.

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Rush Doshi

@RushDoshi

I can’t say I agree with the analysis below for a range of reasons.

1) China isn’t just de-industrializing the West. It’s also de-industrializing the developing world. They too are putting up protective barriers.

2) The idea that China would transfer anything other than final x.com/kejimao/status…