Bussard Ramjet
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As every one knows, the anti-corruption movement is going strong.
One thing that China could have avoided by necessary measures by simply learning from India was the condition of policy paralysis.
What happens is that officials are very willing to work extra hard when they are given a free hand, decision making power, and special incentives (here in the form of bribes) when they are doing so. It is just human tendency, which nothing can change.
In anti-corruption purges like these, a special incentive is lost. Not only this, officials and enforcers become extra worried. It is a natural result of anti-corruption purges. Just imagine, when you someone is watching you over the house and is suspecting you, even threatening you with every decision that you take. Obviously you can't take every decision to be as efficient as possible. You hear, that your neighbor was shot in his house, by the watching eye, because instead of buying vegetables for $1 / kg, he bought them at $1.2/kg. This is standard recipe for policy paralysis.
This same thing happened to India. India was growing at a comfortable 8-9%, before 2009, but then suddenly two things happened. The general gloomy international environment, and the strings of anti-corruption movements by various political and civil groups. This led to complete policy paralysis. COMPLETE!
The fear in some officials was so high, that after the new Government came to power, the PM was even forced to give his word that he wouldn't let any official to be unfairly targeted, will allow them space for policy implementation etc.
China should have learned from purges. There are essentially these issues that need to be addressed:
1. How to avoid Policy Paralysis?
A sample piece:
How great a deal that would have been! Not only strategically, but economically!
India has around 250 million internet users, and is the fastest growing by users in any major economy. It is simply because of the base, we are starting from a smaller base, where China already has reached 750 million users.
And mind you, this deal was being done by Reliance, because it was in debt overall. The telecommunications sector in India is a very profit making business, and the Reliance firms are deeply politically connected -- so they are very stable. They won't allow anything to happen to themselves.
2. How to institutionalize the anti Corruption movement?
Generally in western nations, people deal with corruption by using these things --
Freedom of Speech and Press
Rule of Law
Independent Judiciary
Independent Anti-Corruption and Auditing Bodies
How is China going to institutionalize (i.e. make it inherent in the system) anti-corruption?
3. How to create an environment where the best are joining the Civil Services and Bureaucracy?
It is the most important thing. It is a basic human tendency to chose comfortable pay and incentives, regardless of patriotism of people. You must have a system that attracts the best of the people. Earlier it was done by lavish lifestyle of Officers, and deep monetary benefits. Every top college had numerous kids who wanted to join Bureaucracy.
What about now? You must raise base pay at least 5 times, but also create strong incentives for good performance. When the system is wide open and attractive enough for everyone to enter, the corruption also decreases. If the official gets decent pays and good bonuses, like corporates, many people are attracted.
One thing that China could have avoided by necessary measures by simply learning from India was the condition of policy paralysis.
What happens is that officials are very willing to work extra hard when they are given a free hand, decision making power, and special incentives (here in the form of bribes) when they are doing so. It is just human tendency, which nothing can change.
In anti-corruption purges like these, a special incentive is lost. Not only this, officials and enforcers become extra worried. It is a natural result of anti-corruption purges. Just imagine, when you someone is watching you over the house and is suspecting you, even threatening you with every decision that you take. Obviously you can't take every decision to be as efficient as possible. You hear, that your neighbor was shot in his house, by the watching eye, because instead of buying vegetables for $1 / kg, he bought them at $1.2/kg. This is standard recipe for policy paralysis.
This same thing happened to India. India was growing at a comfortable 8-9%, before 2009, but then suddenly two things happened. The general gloomy international environment, and the strings of anti-corruption movements by various political and civil groups. This led to complete policy paralysis. COMPLETE!
The fear in some officials was so high, that after the new Government came to power, the PM was even forced to give his word that he wouldn't let any official to be unfairly targeted, will allow them space for policy implementation etc.
China should have learned from purges. There are essentially these issues that need to be addressed:
1. How to avoid Policy Paralysis?
A sample piece:
Reliance Communications 's talks to sell undersea cable assets to China's Citic Telecom International Holdings Ltd. for more than $500 million have stalled, four people with knowledge of the matter said.
Citic Telecom is losing interest after Lin Zhenhui, the former chairman of China Mobile Ltd.'s Hong Kong wireless arm, took office as its new chief executive officer last month, one of the people said. Talks floundered in part because the new CEO wasn't keen to pursue a deal so early in his tenure at the government-controlled firm, the person said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.
Citic Telecom is losing interest after Lin Zhenhui, the former chairman of China Mobile Ltd.'s Hong Kong wireless arm, took office as its new chief executive officer last month, one of the people said. Talks floundered in part because the new CEO wasn't keen to pursue a deal so early in his tenure at the government-controlled firm, the person said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.
How great a deal that would have been! Not only strategically, but economically!
India has around 250 million internet users, and is the fastest growing by users in any major economy. It is simply because of the base, we are starting from a smaller base, where China already has reached 750 million users.
And mind you, this deal was being done by Reliance, because it was in debt overall. The telecommunications sector in India is a very profit making business, and the Reliance firms are deeply politically connected -- so they are very stable. They won't allow anything to happen to themselves.
2. How to institutionalize the anti Corruption movement?
Generally in western nations, people deal with corruption by using these things --
Freedom of Speech and Press
Rule of Law
Independent Judiciary
Independent Anti-Corruption and Auditing Bodies
How is China going to institutionalize (i.e. make it inherent in the system) anti-corruption?
3. How to create an environment where the best are joining the Civil Services and Bureaucracy?
It is the most important thing. It is a basic human tendency to chose comfortable pay and incentives, regardless of patriotism of people. You must have a system that attracts the best of the people. Earlier it was done by lavish lifestyle of Officers, and deep monetary benefits. Every top college had numerous kids who wanted to join Bureaucracy.
What about now? You must raise base pay at least 5 times, but also create strong incentives for good performance. When the system is wide open and attractive enough for everyone to enter, the corruption also decreases. If the official gets decent pays and good bonuses, like corporates, many people are attracted.
