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Rise of ‘Red Zaibatsu’ in China: entrenchment and expansion of large state-owned enterprises, 1990-2016

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Listed:
  • Shen, Huangnan
  • Fang, Lei
  • Deng, Kent

Abstract

Ever since Deng Xiaoping’s reforms commencing in the 1980s, how to improve efficiency of state-owned enterprises has been on the government agenda. Progress has been made but more slowly than one expects in the decade. Even worse, against all the odds, China’s large state-owned firms, mega-SOEs, the backbone of Maoist economy previously, have gained exponential growth in the past decade. Reforms of that part of the economy have stalled. Why? To reveal the rationale and mechanisms of the rise of mega-SOEs, this study establishes a two-stage game model for an ‘authoritarian market economy’ (or a ‘market-Leninist economy’) where market monopoly and rent-seeking by state-owned conglomerates is firmly entrenched. Our findings confirm a ‘subgame perfect Nash equilibrium’ in China’s authoritarian market economy that has led the state (the owner or ‘principal’) and the large state-owned firms (the manager or the ‘agent’) to a paradox which prevents continuous reforms towards a Pareto solution for efficiency improvement.

Suggested Citation

  • Shen, Huangnan & Fang, Lei & Deng, Kent, 2017. "Rise of ‘Red Zaibatsu’ in China: entrenchment and expansion of large state-owned enterprises, 1990-2016," Economic History Working Papers 75214, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:75214
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    Cited by:

    1. Shen, Jim Huangnan & Zhang, Jun & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Li, Weiping, 2020. "Toward an internal governance structure of China’s large SOEs," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    authoritarian market economy; rent-seeking; subgame perfect Nash equilibrium; SOEs; economic reforms; economic efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General
    • P26 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Property Rights
    • P31 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Socialist Enterprises and Their Transitions

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