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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2012 version)

  The “Chongqing Model” and the Future of China

  Meg Rithmire

  Since opening to the global economy in 1979, but especially since entering the WTO in 2001, China's economy grew at rates around 10% annually by attracting FDI and promoting exports. After the financial crisis that began in 2008 and depressed demand in the United States and Europe, China's growth began to slow, and vulnerabilities in its economy came to light. It became clear to many in China that the growth strategy that got China from 1978 to the present was unsustainable and that the country needed a new strategy to resolve the country's regional inequalities, stimulate domestic consumption, and create growth less vulnerable to global contractions in demand. At exactly this time, between 2007 and 2012, the provincial municipality of Chongqing in China's mountainous southwest became the fastest growing city in China with GDP growth averaging over 15%. Chongqing's growth was the result of a suite of economic and social policies that had been dubbed the "Chongqing Model," a controversial bundle of reforms that promised public and private sector growth with benefits more equitably shared by all citizens. Yet critics found the model politically suspect and over reliant on state-owned enterprises and debt-driven investment. When the city's preeminent leader was publicly fired following a sensational murder scandal, the region's new leaders—and indeed China's new leaders—had to weigh in on the "Chongqing Model." Would it signal a new path to prosperity for post-WTO China?

  Keywords: China; Public Sector; Private Sector; Developing Countries and Economies; Macroeconomics; Public Administration Industry; China;

  Citation:

  Rithmire, Meg. "The “Chongqing Model” and the Future of China." Harvard Business School Case 713-028, February 2013. (Revised from original December 2012 version.)

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  Pittsburgh

  Eric D. Werker, Meg Rithmire, Benjamin Kennedy and Andrew Knauer

  The case narrates the development of Pittsburgh from the 1940s to 2012. It analyzes the collapse of the steel industry in the early 1980s, the city's subsequent decline, and the city's later re-emergence as a hub for higher education, the tech sector, and the healthcare industry. Attention is given to the public-private partnerships that emerged in Pittsburgh, as well as the economic development and taxation initiatives pursued by different mayors.

  Keywords: google; population; city growth; shale; PNC; Tom Murphy; Luke Ravenstahl; Public-private partnership; Tax increment financing; brownfields; Renaissance; Industry Clusters; Industry Growth; City; Business and Government Relations; Taxation; Giving and Philanthropy; Nonprofit Organizations; Higher Education; Technology Industry; Health Industry; Steel Industry; Education Industry; Pittsburgh;

  Citation:

  Werker, Eric D., Meg Rithmire, Benjamin Kennedy, and Andrew Knauer. "Pittsburgh." Harvard Business School Case 713-035, January 2013.

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• Lecture | 1 Feb 2012 - 2012

  The Roots of Local Territorial Control: Housing Privatization and Enterprise Reform in the 1980s and 1990s

  Meg Rithmire

  Why are some local governments able to consolidate control over urban territory and some are not? Drawing on a paired comparison of two cities--Dalian and Harbin in the Northeast--Professor Rithmire investigates variation in land politics in initially similar cities. Dalian, benefitting from early access to foreign capital, consolidated control over urban territory by first segregating the new and old economies, then later introducing dual pressures for enterprises and their workers to restructure and relocate. Harbin, facing capital shortages, treated urban territory as a resource for distribution to assuage losers of reform by privatizing housing and encouraging enterprises to diversify their economic activities. As a result, officials in Harbin struggle with long-time claimants to urban land, while Dalian's local government has consolidated control over the city's territory.

  Keywords: Governance Controls; Privatization; Government and Politics; Local Range; Restructuring; Crisis Management; Foreign Direct Investment; Economics; Diversification;

  Citation:

  Rithmire, Meg. "The Roots of Local Territorial Control: Housing Privatization and Enterprise Reform in the 1980s and 1990s." Lecture at the New England China Seminar, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, February 2012.

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