IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v66y2008i3-4p703-730.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Refinancing and decentralization: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Park, Albert
  • Shen, Minggao

Abstract

Decentralization can complement market liberalization by strengthening incentives of agents to respond to market signals. However, in China banks centralized lending authority following financial reforms in the mid-1990s. We present a new theory of financial decentralization in which centralization provides a credible commitment not to refinance bad projects by reducing available information. Using data from Chinese rural financial institutions, we empirically assess the determinants of decentralization and the likelihood of collateral seizure, strongly confirming the predictions of the refinancing model. We conclude that weak institutional environments may limit the efficiency of financial intermediation despite financial market liberalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Park, Albert & Shen, Minggao, 2008. "Refinancing and decentralization: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(3-4), pages 703-730, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:66:y:2008:i:3-4:p:703-730
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167-2681(07)00047-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Dinc, I Serdar, 2000. "Bank Reputation, Bank Commitment, and the Effects of Competition in Credit Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(3), pages 781-812.
    2. Berglof, Erik & Roland, Gerard, 1998. "Soft Budget Constraints and Banking in Transition Economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 18-40, March.
    3. Bengt Holmstrom & Jean Tirole, 1997. "Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds, and The Real Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 663-691.
    4. János Kornai, 2014. "The soft budget constraint," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 64(supplemen), pages 25-79, November.
    5. Park, Albert & Sehrt, Kaja, 2001. "Tests of Financial Intermediation and Banking Reform in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 608-644, December.
    6. repec:ner:ucllon:http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/17678/ is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Che, Jiahua & Qian, Yingyi, 1998. "Institutional Environment, Community Government, and Corporate Governance: Understanding China's Township-Village Enterprises," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 1-23, April.
    8. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1995. "The Effect of Credit Market Competition on Lending Relationships," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 407-443.
    9. Aghion, Philippe & Tirole, Jean, 1997. "Formal and Real Authority in Organizations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(1), pages 1-29, February.
    10. Park, Albert & Shen, Minggao, 2003. "Joint liability lending and the rise and fall of China's township and village enterprises," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 497-531, August.
    11. Jacques Crémer, 1995. "Arm's Length Relationships," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 275-295.
    12. Qian, Yingyi & Roland, Gerard, 1998. "Federalism and the Soft Budget Constraint," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1143-1162, December.
    13. M. Dewatripont & E. Maskin, 1995. "Credit and Efficiency in Centralized and Decentralized Economies," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(4), pages 541-555.
    14. Cho, Yoon Je, 1986. "Inefficiencies from Financial Liberalization in the Absence of Well-Functioning Equity Markets," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 18(2), pages 191-199, May.
    15. Hehui Jin & Yingyi Qian, 1998. "Public Versus Private Ownership of Firms: Evidence from Rural China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(3), pages 773-808.
    16. Rodney Schmidt, 1998. "Banking on the Transition," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: José M. Fanelli & Rohinton Medhora (ed.), Financial Reform in Developing Countries, chapter 10, pages 296-327, Palgrave Macmillan.
    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. Fangzheng Zhu & Yuexiang Lu, 2022. "Carbon Emission Reduction Effect of China’s Financial Decentralization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
    2. Lopomo Beteto Wegner, Danilo, 2024. "Centralized and decentralized lending: Implications of consolidation in the German banking industry," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1051-1063.
    3. Silvia Dominguez-Martinez & Randolph Sloof & Ferdinand von Siemens, 2010. "Monitoring your Friends, not your Foes: Strategic Ignorance and the Delegation of Real Authority," CESifo Working Paper Series 3172, CESifo.
    4. Jing Ma & Qiuyun Zhao & Qing Li & Hao Yang, 2021. "Financial Constraints, Corporate Savings and Labor Income Share—Based on China’s Economic Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-32, December.
    5. Andrii Hrona, 2020. "Foreign Currency Refinancing As A New Element Of Stimulating The Economic Development Of Transition Economies," Baltic Journal of Economic Studies, Publishing house "Baltija Publishing", vol. 6(5).
    6. Qian, Meijun & Huang, Yasheng, 2016. "Political institutions, entrenchments, and the sustainability of economic development – A lesson from rural finance," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 152-178.
    7. Ghazi Zouari, 2011. "Specific knowledge, investment decision and organizational architecture," Working Papers CREGO 1110501, Université de Bourgogne - CREGO EA7317 Centre de recherches en gestion des organisations.

    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. Albert Park & Minggao Shen, 2002. "A Refinancing Model of Decentralization with Empirical Evidence from China," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 461, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    2. Yingyi Qian, 1999. "The Institutional Foundations of China's Market Transition," Working Papers 99011, Stanford University, Department of Economics.
    3. Yingyi Qian & Barry R. Weingast, 1997. "Federalism as a Commitment to Reserving Market Incentives," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 83-92, Fall.
    4. Tlili, Rim, 2012. "Comment justifier la multibancarité au sein des PME ?," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/10919 edited by Etner, François.
    5. Xu, Cheng-Gang, 2010. "The Institutional Foundations of China?s Reforms and Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 7654, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Vahabi, Mehrdad, 2003. "La contrainte budgétaire lâche et la théorie économique [Soft Budget Constraint and Economic Theory]," MPRA Paper 17651, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Crivelli, Ernesto, 2006. "Sub-National Optimal Budget Allocation and Borrowing under Soft Budget Constraint," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 24/2006, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    8. Djedidi-Kooli, Salima, 2009. "L’accès au financement des PME en France : quel rôle joué par la structure du système bancaire ?," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/8354 edited by Etner, François.
    9. Jäger, Jannik & Grigoriadis, Theocharis, 2016. "Soft budget constraints, European Central Banking and the financial crisis," Discussion Papers 2016/7, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    10. Akai, Nobuo & Sato, Motohiro, 2008. "Too big or too small? A synthetic view of the commitment problem of interregional transfers," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 551-559, November.
    11. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2001. "The Soft Budget Constraint: A Theoretical Clarification," Post-Print hal-00629160, HAL.
    12. Sangeetha Gunasekar & Jayati Sarkar, 2014. "Does autonomy matter in state owned enterprises? Evidence from performance contracts in India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2014-034, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    13. 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.
    14. Gorton, Gary & Winton, Andrew, 2003. "Financial intermediation," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 431-552, Elsevier.
    15. J. Kornai & E. Maskin & G. Roland, 2004. "Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 11.
    16. Dalen, Dag Morten & Moen, Espen R. & Riis, Christian, 2009. "Politicians and soft budget constraints," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2001:2, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    17. Jiahua Che, 2000. "Decentralized Financing, Centralized Financing and the Dual Track System: Toward a New Theory of Soft Budget Constraints," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 261, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    18. Justin Yifu LIN & Xifang SUN, 2009. "Banking structure and economic growth: Evidence from China," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 4(4), pages 479-504, December.
    19. Pranab Bardhan, 2016. "State and Development: The Need for a Reappraisal of the Current Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(3), pages 862-892, September.
    20. Wildasin, David E., 1997. "Externalities and bailouts : hard and soft budget constraints in intergovernmental fiscal relations," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1843, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    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:eee:jeborg:v:66:y:2008:i:3-4:p:703-730. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    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.