I think it's important to draw distinctions as to the entity with authority to make a change.
In the Chinese system, that's the market but always capped by political and CCP decisions, if they deign to care.
In the American system, that's resolutely only the market. The government has some limited second order control (tariffs, industrial policy, national security exclusions), but generally didn't use them against China 1990-2018.
Ergo, the deciders moving manufacturing to China were the CEOs of American companies, optimizing their own production costs.
I'd be curious to see an analysis of the rise of Walmart (and immolation of Sears) and later Target vis-a-vis Chinese manufacturing of consumer goods sold in America. I'd be surprised if the centralization of point-of-sale (vs previous more diverse and independent stores) didn't incentivize bulk, low-cost offshore manufacturing via volume.
In the Chinese system, that's the market but always capped by political and CCP decisions, if they deign to care.
In the American system, that's resolutely only the market. The government has some limited second order control (tariffs, industrial policy, national security exclusions), but generally didn't use them against China 1990-2018.
Ergo, the deciders moving manufacturing to China were the CEOs of American companies, optimizing their own production costs.
I'd be curious to see an analysis of the rise of Walmart (and immolation of Sears) and later Target vis-a-vis Chinese manufacturing of consumer goods sold in America. I'd be surprised if the centralization of point-of-sale (vs previous more diverse and independent stores) didn't incentivize bulk, low-cost offshore manufacturing via volume.