Vested interests eat into economy

Behind China's fast GDP growth and deepening economic reform lurk the shadows of social problems. Ask Yang Fan, professor in China University of Political Science and Law's Business School, why, and he will tell you that it's because "special interest groups" have encroached upon society's policymaking framework.

Yang, whose new book, Interest Groups, has raised the taboo subject of "interest groups" in China, has sounded the alarm against the power-capital nexus that intervenes in the policymaking process. He says the worsening social situation and the growing threats that development of a harmonious society face from these special interest groups compelled him to conduct a comprehensive research on how and where they operate.

Special interest groups exist in almost all the fields and have links with corrupt officials, he says. From the constant failures to check rising housing prices and rampant speculation in the market to public hearings predictably ending in still higher prices all point to one thing: special interest groups' attempt to manipulate public policies in their own favor.