Markets Inside Authoritarian Orders

Authoritarian regimes can host and even nurture spaces of spontaneous economic ordering without full liberal rule of law; large infrastructure and industrial projects in China coexist with decentralized market coordination because state capacity and general, predictable rules (even if enforced by an autocracy) can enable dispersed knowledge creation and private investment. — This reframes debates about China and development: policy choices about trade, investment, and competition should distinguish coercive command from hybrid rule‑like public capacity that enables markets under non‑liberal regimes.