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Where Have China’s State Monopolies Gone?

Author

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  • Paul Hubbard

    (Crawford School, ANU)

Abstract

If China’s economy is an example of ‘state-capitalism’, then its large, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) could be expected to monopolise key sectors. But previous estimates of industrial concentration using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) have suggested that the level of industrial concentration – and therefore the potential for the abuse of monopoly power – is very low. These studies have significantly underestimated HHI, since they do not consolidate subsidiary enterprises in Chinese survey data into larger business groups, or according to ultimate ownership. After making these adjustments, a measure of potential HHI shows that large state monopolies remain in oil and gas, electricity, tobacco and, potentially, automobiles. In particular, SOEs supervised by the central government are heavily invested in potentially concentrated industries. But aggregate profits of the state sector are driven more by the portfolio distribution of assets between resources, manufacturing and utilities, rather than industrial concentration within sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Hubbard, 2015. "Where Have China’s State Monopolies Gone?," Governance Working Papers 25278, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:eab:govern:25278
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    File URL: http://www.eaber.org/node/25278
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    Cited by:

    1. Bertrand Rioux, Philipp Galkin, Frederic Murphy, and Axel Pierru, 2017. "How do Price Caps in Chinas Electricity Sector Impact the Economics of Coal, Power and Wind? Potential Gains from Reforms," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(KAPSARC S).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Chinese economy; industrial concentration; state-owned enterprises;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • L3 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise
    • L4 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies
    • L6 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing

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