Editing Market economy (section)

=== Socialist market economy ===
Following the [[1978 reforms]], China developed what it calls a [[socialist market economy]] in which most of the economy is under state ownership, with the state enterprises organized as joint-stock companies with various government agencies owning controlling shares through a shareholder system. Prices are set by a largely free-price system and the state-owned enterprises are not subjected to micromanagement by a government planning agency. A similar system called [[socialist-oriented market economy]] has emerged in Vietnam following the {{lang|vi|[[Đổi Mới]]}} reforms in 1986. This system is frequently characterized as [[state capitalism]] instead of market socialism because there is no meaningful degree of employee self-management in firms, because the state enterprises retain their profits instead of distributing them to the workforce or government and because many function as ''de facto'' private enterprises. The profits neither finance a social dividend to benefit the population at large, nor do they accrue to their employees. In China, this economic model is presented as a [[Primary stage of socialism|preliminary stage of socialism]] to explain the dominance of capitalistic management practices and forms of enterprise organization in both the state and non-state sectors.