Last week, China announced that it had mastered the art of making ballpoint pens. Don't laugh: It was a years-long effort that cost millions of dollars and required the leadership of a state-run corporate colossus. It was front-page news, widely discussed on talk shows and celebrated on social media.
And it was no one-off stunt. China hopes such government-mandated "innovation" will finally revive its economy and catapult it into the front rank of technologically advanced nations. Unfortunately, such efforts are far more likely to worsen the inefficiencies already holding its economy back.
Ballpoint pens aren't actually new to China. Its 3,000 pen manufacturers make around 40 billion of them a year and fulfill 80 percent of the world's demand. There's just one problem: China doesn't possess the advanced alloys and machines necessary to make a high quality pen ball and socket. As a result, 90 percent of China's pen tips are imported. Pens made from Chinese components are widely acknowledged to be inferior — a point made by Premier Li Keqiang in a 2015 TV appearance. "That's the real situation facing us," he said. "We cannot make ballpoint pens with a smooth writing function."