IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jocebs/v3y2005i3p231-245.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On Privatisation and Property Rights: Should China Go Down the Road of Outright Privatisation?

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Sanders
  • Yang Chen

Abstract

Fierce debate is ongoing in China concerning the appropriate role for the private sector in the current stage of reform and enterprise restructuring. There are many economists, both within China and without, who argue that China should now increase both the scale and pace of privatisation and reduce the barriers to private sector involvement in the remaining large-sized State-Owned Enterprises as a matter of urgency. This paper argues, however, that on both theoretical and empirical grounds, wholesale privatisation in China should not be adopted, that 'fuzzy' property rights have served China well in the last twenty years of reform and that the appropriate boundary between the public and private sectors should be drawn pragmatically and on a case-by-case basis.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Sanders & Yang Chen, 2005. "On Privatisation and Property Rights: Should China Go Down the Road of Outright Privatisation?," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(3), pages 231-245.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jocebs:v:3:y:2005:i:3:p:231-245
    DOI: 10.1080/14765280500317874
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14765280500317874
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/14765280500317874?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephan Kuhnert, 2001. "An Evolutionary Theory of Collective Action: Schumpeterian Entrepreneurship for the Common Good," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 13-29, March.
    2. Martin L. Weitzman & Chenggang Xu, 1997. "Chinese Township-Village Enterprises as Vaguely Defined Cooperatives," International Economic Association Series, in: John E. Roemer (ed.), Property Relations, Incentives and Welfare, chapter 12, pages 326-355, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. John Vickers & George Yarrow, 1991. "Economic Perspectives on Privatization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 111-132, Spring.
    4. David D. Li, 1996. "A Theory of Ambiguous Property Rights in Transition Economies: The Case of the Chinese Non-State Sector," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 8, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    5. North, Douglass C., 1971. "Institutional Change and Economic Growth," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(1), pages 118-125, March.
    6. Stanley Fischer & Alan Gelb, 1991. "The Process of Socialist Economic Transformation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 91-105, Fall.
    7. Jefferson, Gary H, 1998. "China's State Enterprises: Public Goods, Externalities, and Coase," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 428-432, May.
    8. Tian, Guoqiang, 2000. "Property Rights and the Nature of Chinese Collective Enterprises," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 247-268, June.
    9. Kornai, Janos, 1993. "The Evolution of Financial Discipline under the Postsocialist System," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 315-336.
    10. Li, David D., 1996. "A Theory of Ambiguous Property Rights in Transition Economies: The Case of the Chinese Non-State Sector," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-19, August.
    11. Kornai, Janos, 1988. "Individual freedom and reform of the socialist economy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(2-3), pages 233-267, March.
    12. Eytan Sheshinski & Luis F. López-Calva, 2003. "Privatization and Its Benefits: Theory and Evidence," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 49(3), pages 429-459.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Sun, 2019. "The impact of ownership structure on conditional and unconditional conservatism in China: Some new evidence," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 49-68.
    2. Liu, Sun, 2017. "The impact of equity incentive plans on analysts’ earnings forecasts and stock recommendations for Chinese listed firms: An empirical study," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-13.
    3. Liu, Sun, 2015. "Corporate governance and forward-looking disclosure: Evidence from China," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 16-30.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xia, Jun & Li, Shaomin & Long, Cheryl, 2009. "The Transformation of Collectively Owned Enterprises and its Outcomes in China, 2001-05," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1651-1662, October.
    2. Lu, Jiangyong & Tao, Zhigang & Yang, Zhi, 2010. "The costs and benefits of government control: Evidence from China's collectively-owned enterprises," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 282-292, June.
    3. Marcus Conlé, 2011. "Tracing the Process of Property Rights Specification in China: The Case of New Technology Enterprises," Chapters, in: Werner Pascha & Cornelia Storz & Markus Taube (ed.), Institutional Variety in East Asia, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Kung, James Kai-sing & Lin, Yi-min, 2007. "The Decline of Township-and-Village Enterprises in China's Economic Transition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 569-584, April.
    5. Xu, Chenggang & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2009. "The evolution of Chinese entrepreneurial firms: Township-village enterprises revisited," IFPRI discussion papers 854, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Dongshui Xie & Caiquan Bai & Huimin Wang & Qihang Xue, 2022. "The Land System and the Rise and Fall of China’s Rural Industrialization: Based on the Perspective of Institutional Change of Rural Collective Construction Land," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-22, June.
    7. Walsh, Patrick Paul & Whelan, Ciara, 2001. "Firm performance and the political economy of corporate governance: survey evidence for Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 85-112, June.
    8. Ito, Junichi, 2006. "Economic and institutional reform packages and their impact on productivity: A case study of Chinese township and village enterprises," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 167-190, March.
    9. Bischoff, Ivo, 2002. "Efficiency-Enhancing Effects Of Private And Collective Enterprises In Transitional China," Discussion Papers 26467, University of Giessen, Center for International Development and Environmental Research.
    10. Zhang, Yin-Fang & Parker, David, 2002. "Labour and Total Factor Productivity in the Chinese Electronics Industry in the 1990s," Centre on Regulation and Competition (CRC) Working papers 30628, University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
    11. Tetsushi Sonobe & Keijiro Otsuka, 2004. "Productivity Effects of TVE Privatization: The Case Study of Garment and Metal-Casting Enterprises in the Greater Yangtze River Region," NBER Chapters, in: Governance, Regulation, and Privatization in the Asia-Pacific Region, pages 231-247, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Zhong Qin & Vinod Mishra & Russell Smyth, 2016. "An empirical examination of endogenous ownership in Chinese private enterprises," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 513-530, October.
    13. Yingyi Qian, 1999. "The Institutional Foundations of China's Market Transition," Working Papers 99011, Stanford University, Department of Economics.
    14. Xu, Cheng-Gang & Guo, Di & Jiang, Kun & Yang, Xiyi, 2017. "Clustering, Growth, and Inequality in China," CEPR Discussion Papers 12543, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    16. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Wing Thye Woo, "undated". "Understanding China'S Economic Performance," Department of Economics 97-04, California Davis - Department of Economics.
    17. Boudewijn Bouckaert, 2007. "Bureaupreneurs in China: we did it our way," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 169-195, April.
    18. Tian, Guoqiang, 2000. "Property Rights and the Nature of Chinese Collective Enterprises," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 247-268, June.
    19. Chang, Chun & McCall, Brian P. & Wang, Yijiang, 2003. "Incentive contracting versus ownership reforms: evidence from China's township and village enterprises," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 414-428, September.
    20. Lawrence Lai & Frank Lorne, 2014. "Ambiguous Property Rights: A Taxonomic and Exploratory Account of Post-colonial Rural Housing in Chinese Hong Kong," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(10), pages 2052-2067, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    JEL Classifications: A11; B13; D23; H42; L32; L33; P20;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • L32 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Public Enterprises; Public-Private Enterprises
    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jocebs:v:3:y:2005:i:3:p:231-245. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RCEA20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.