The Rise of Modern State Capitalism

China’s state-owned enterprises have received the most coverage of any such companies around the world, but they are hardly alone. In fact, although China has been the focus of nearly all discussion of the trend in the West, it is only one player in a new era of state capitalism born over the past decade. Throughout the developing world, many governments are increasing their intervention in their economies. For one thing, the number of countries where the state controls more than one-third of the largest companies has steadily risen since the late 1990s, when post-Cold War privatizations in former communist-bloc countries and other developing nations in Africa, Latin America and Asia put this figure at its low point. In addition, global economic surveys show that state intervention in economies has also increased since the 1990s, particularly among the countries that do control more than one-third of the biggest domestic firms.

For more on the rise of modern state capitalism, see my new World Politics Review article, adapted from my book State Capitalism: How the Return of Statism is Transforming the World.