Markets with Bureaucratic Characteristics

Winner, 2025 Sociology of Development Book Award, Sociology of Development Section, American Sociological Association China’s breathtaking economic development has been driven by bureaucrats. Even as the country transitioned away from socialist planning toward a market economy, the economic bureaucracy retained a striking degree of influence and control over crafting and implementing policy. Yet bureaucrats are often dismissed as faceless and inconsequential, their role neglected in favor of par