AI revival of Chinese Marxist economics

Two years ago, an economics professor at one of China's top economics departments told the author that most colleagues paid only lip service to Marxism, with only a tiny minority taking Marx seriously. This followed China's embrace of capitalism, when its leading universities adopted mainstream Western textbooks to mold students' thinking about the economy.

Chinese Marxists have long feared that the country's capitalist turn would lead it into the "rent trap" seen in the North Atlantic economies. In that trap, competition in productive sectors drives profit rates down, making rent-yielding property more attractive to investors seeking the greatest risk-weighted return. This dynamic brings asset-price inflation, a rapid slowdown, stagnation, deindustrialization and social discord.

Now, the AI revolution is giving Chinese Marxist economics a mighty boost, reviving hopes that abundant, cheap goods could transcend capitalism's wealth-extraction trap. Whether this shift reshapes teaching and research in China's top economics departments is likely to hinge on how far AI-driven automation spreads, though the article does not specify such outcomes.