An assessment of China’s ability to regulate its iron and steel industries

Taking the iron and steel industries as a case study, this paper examines China’s ability to implement policies and regulate its industry. The paper first explains that modern government regulation theories go beyond the relationship between government and markets, adding to them the role of civil societies, human behavior and other fields. The paper then sheds light on the specific characteristics of China’s regulatory system and identifies a few elements that make it unique, such as the complexity of central and local government relationships and the large role that State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) retain in China. Lastly, the paper identifies the Chinese policies for the iron and steel industries and then analyzes how SOEs, local government, civil societies, and small corporations behaved during the implementation process of these policies. While the previous literature mainly focuses on the role of Chinese experts in policy formulation, this study extends the previous analysis with the implementation process. Using the iron and steel industries as a case study, this paper examines the institutional responses to China’s central government regulations, assessing China’s ability to regulate the two industries serving as the basis for the case studies.