July 16, 2007

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‘The Greatest Human Hero of the Twentieth Century’

Check out Brad DeLong’s very detailed take on China’s development, which includes this:

And in 1978 China had its first piece of great good luck in a long, long time—perhaps the first time some important chance broke right for China since the end of the Sung dynasty. China acquired as its paramount ruler one of the most devious and effective politicians of this or indeed any age, a man who was quite possibly the greatest human hero of the twentieth century: Deng Xiaoping. Deng sought to maintain the Communist Party oligarchy’s control over China’s politics while also seeking a better life for China’s people, and he is guided by two principles: (i) be pragmatic (“what matters is not whether the cat is red or white, what matters is whether the cat catches mice), and (ii) be cautious (“cross the river by feeling for the stones at the bottom of the ford with your feet”).

“The greatest human hero of the twentieth century” — I dunno if it’s right, but it is certainly bold and counter to any conventional wisdom. Also very clearly an economists’ view of the hero: he of the greatest-net-positive.