Laboratories of Autocracy: What Happens When China Shuts Down Its Policy Experiments
Podcast: The Pie: An Economics PodcastPublished On: Tue Feb 17 2026
Description: The common perception of Chinese governance is a strong, centralized state. For decades, however, the vast majority of the country's policies originated with local governments, as officials experimented, competed, and copied each other's successes. In this episode, Shaoda Wang of Harris Public Policy describes his research analyzing 3.7 million government documents to trace the origin and diffusion of Chinese policies, revealing the economic costs of the country's shift toward centralized policymaking.
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