Finance & economics | Xi, the generous

China’s government is surprisingly redistributive

That is despite a stingy tax-and-transfer system

Children skip rope at a primary school, Zaozhuang, Shandong Province of China.
Photograph: Getty Images
|Hong Kong

When China’s ruler, Xi Jinping, began calling for “common prosperity” in 2021, he made investors nervous. The stated goal was to reduce inequality. But the term became wrapped up with something edgier: a morale-destroying campaign to browbeat billionaires into displays of charity, tighten regulations on big tech firms and curb what Mr Xi called the “disorderly expansion of capital”.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Xi, the generous”

From the September 14th 2024 edition

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