Rabushka recently returned from a visit to Hong Kong in late May where he met with business editors and economic opinion writers of leading Chinese and English newspapers and magazines. Local commentators of the Chinese economy use the term "Beijing consensus" to characterize China's pragmatic approach to economic policy, which we have described in Chapter 2 of From Predation to Prosperity and, most recently, in "Fixing China's Banks, not Russia's."
The Beijing consensus is intended in apposition to the Washington consensus, the generally failed policy triad of liberalization, privatization, and stabilization propounded by leading academics and international organizations. Beijing consensus is market reform, absent democracy. Washington consensus applied to post-central plan Russia has begotten a new variant of socialism, Enterprise Network Socialism, with democracy.
Hong Kong's economic writers believe that Russia is beginning to adopt the Beijing consensus. By this they mean reduced emphasis on democracy and greater focus on policies to encourage and stimulate new market entrants in the economy.
