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

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  • 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
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    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

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