Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-06T15:03:09.443Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Developmental State and Corporate Governance in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Victor Nee
Affiliation:
Cornell University, USA
Sonja Opper
Affiliation:
Lund University, Sweden
Sonia Wong
Affiliation:
Lingnan University, China

Abstract

China's state-guided economic miracle has revitalized a long-standing and unsettled debate about the role of government in transformative economic development. In a firm-level study of corporate governance we examine whether direct state involvement actually makes a positive contribution to the economic performance of newly incorporated firms in China's urban economy. We show that direct intervention into the governance of firms is likely to yield negative economic effects at the firm level. We infer from our findings that it must be other types of government intervention external to the firm that explain the success of China's developmental state in promoting rapid economic growth.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berle, A. A. Jr., & Means, G. C. 1932. The modern corporation and private property. Commerce Clearing House, New York.Google Scholar
Bian, Y., Shu, X., & Logan, J. R. 2001. Communist party membership and regime dynamics in China. Social Forces, 79: 805841.Google Scholar
Black, F. 1986. Noise. Journal of Finance, 41: 529543.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J. M., Tollison, R. D., & Tullock, G. 1980. Toward a Theory of Therrent-Seeking Society. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Tex.Google Scholar
Chang, E., & Wong, S. 2004. Political control and performance in China's listed firms. Journal of Comparative Economics, 32(4): 617636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Che, J., & Qian, Y. 1998. Insecure property rights and government ownership of firms. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113(2): 467496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, A. 1999. Restructuring Political Power in China. Alliances and Opposition, 1978-1998. Lynne Rienner Publisher, London.Google Scholar
Evans, P. 1989. Predatory, developmental, and other apparatuses: a comparative political economy perspective on the third world state. Sociological Forum, 4: 561587.Google Scholar
Evans, P. 1995. Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Evans, P., Rueschemeyer, D., & Skocpol, T. (Eds.). 1985. Bringing the State Back in. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Fama, E. F., & French, K. R. 1995. Size and book-to-market factors in earnings and returns. Journal of Finance, 50: 131155.Google Scholar
Frye, T., & Shleifer, A. 1997. The invisible hand and the grabbing hand. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 87: 354358.Google Scholar
Gerschenkron, A. 1962. Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Guthrie, D. 1999. Dragon in a Three-Piece Suit. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Hayek, F. A. 1945. The use of knowledge in society. American Economic Review, 35(4): 519530.Google Scholar
Hirschman, A. 1958. The Strategy of Economic Development. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.Google Scholar
Johnson, C. 1982. MITI and the Japanese Miracle. The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975. Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif.Google Scholar
Kang, D. C. 2002. Bad loans to good friends: money politics and the developmental state in South Korea. International Organization, 56: 177207.Google Scholar
Keister, L. 1998. Engineering growth: business group structure and firm performance in China's transition economy. American Journal of Sociology, 104: 404440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirzner, I. M. 1984. Economic planning and the knowledge problem. Cato Journal, 8(2): 407418.Google Scholar
Kornai, J. 1980. The Road to a Free Economy: Shifting from a Socialist System. WW. Norton, New York.Google Scholar
Kornai, J. 1990. The affinity between ownership forms and coordination mechanisms: the common experience of reform in socialist countries. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 4(3): 131147.Google Scholar
Kornai, J. 1998. The place of soft budget constraint syndrome in economic theory. Journal of Comparative Economics, 26: 1117.Google Scholar
Kornai, J. 2001. Hardening the budget constraints: the experience of the post-socialist countries. European Economic Review, 45: 15731599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krueger, A. O. 1974. The political economy of the rent seeking society. American Economic Review, 64: 291303.Google Scholar
Leung, M.-K., & Mok, W.-K. V. 2000. Commercialization of banks in China: institutional changes and effects on listed enterprises. Journal of Contemporary China, 9: 4152.Google Scholar
Li, D. 1998. Changing incentives of the Chinese bureaucracy. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 88: 393397.Google Scholar
Li, S., & Lian, P. 1999. Decentralization and coordination: China's credible commitment to preserve the market under authoritarianism. China Economic Review, 10: 161190.Google Scholar
Li, H., & Zhou, L.-A. 2005. Political turnover and economic performance: The incentive role of personnel control in China. Journal of Public Economics, 89: 17431762.Google Scholar
Lin, J. Y., Fang, C., & Zhou, L. 1996. The China Miracle: Development Strategy and Economic Reform. Hong Kong Centre for Economic Research, Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Lin, Z. J., Chen, F., & Qingliang, T. 2001. An empirical evaluation of the new system of business accounting in China. Journal of International Accounting Auditing and Taxation, 10: 2349.Google Scholar
Lioukas, S., Bourantas, D., & Papadakis, V. 1993. Managerial autonomy of state-owned enterprises determining factors. Organization Science, 4: 645666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipton, D., & Sachs, J. 1990. Creating a market economy in Eastern Europe: the case of Poland. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1: 75147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, D. 2000. Industrial policy and resource allocation: implications on China's participation in globalization. China Economic Review, 11: 342360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGregor, R. 2001. The little red book of business in China. Financial Times, July 8.Google Scholar
Montinola, G., Yingyi, Q., & Weingast, B. R. 1995. Federalism, Chinese Style: the political basis for economic success in China. World Politics, 48: 5081.Google Scholar
Nee, V. 2000. The role of the state in making a market economy. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 156: 6488.Google Scholar
Nee, V. 2005. Organizational dynamics of institutional change: politicized capitalism in China. In Nee, V. & Swedberg, R. (Eds.), The Economic Sociology of Capitalism: 5374. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Nee, V., & Opper, S. 2007. On politicized capitalism. In Nee, V. & Swedberg, R. (Eds.), On Capitalism. Stanford University Press, Stanford (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Niskanen, W. A. 1971. Bureaucracy and Representative Government. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.Google Scholar
OECD. 2002. China in the World Economy. The Domestic Policy Challenges. OECD, Paris.Google Scholar
Oi, J. 1992. Fiscal reform and the economic foundations of local corporatism in China. World Politics, 45: 99126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okimoto, D. L. 1989. Between MITI and the Market: Japanese Industrial Policy for High Technology. Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif.Google Scholar
Park, A., & Sehrt, K. 2001. Tests of financial intermediation and banking reform in China. Journal of Comparative Economics, 29: 608644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, Y. 2001. Chinese townships and villages as industrial corporations: ownership, governance and productivity. American Journal of Sociology, 106: 13381370.Google Scholar
Qi, D., Wu, W., & Hua, Z. 2000. Shareholding structure and corporate performance of partially privatized firms: evidence from listed companies. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 8: 587610.Google Scholar
Qian, Y. 1995. Reforming corporate governance and finance in China. In Aoki, M. & Kim, H.-K. (Eds.), Corporate Governance in Transition Economies: Insider Control and the Role of Banks: 215252. The World Bank, Washington D.C.Google Scholar
Qian, Y., & Roland, G. 1998. Federalism and the soft budget constraint. American Economic Review, 88: 11431162.Google Scholar
Sappington, D. E., & Stiglitz, J. E. 1987. Privatization, information, and incentives. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 6: 567581.Google Scholar
Shirk, S. L. 1992. The Chinese political system and the political strategy of economic reform. In Lieberthal, K. & Lampton, D. (Eds.), Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China: 5991. Berkeley University Press, Berkeley, Calif.Google Scholar
Shleifer, A., & Vishny, R. W. 1994. Politicians and firms. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 59: 9951025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, A. 1776/1976. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Cannan, E. (Ed.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Stiglitz, J. 2002. Globalization and Its Discontents. Norton, New York.Google Scholar
Tenev, S., & Zhang, C. 2002. Corporate Governance and Enterprise Reform in China. Building the Institutions of Modern Markets. World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Tiebout, C. 1956. A pure theory of local expenditures. Journal of Political Economy, 64: 416424.Google Scholar
Wade, R. 1990. Governing the Market. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Walder, A. 1995. Local governments as industrial firms: an organizational analysis of China’ transitional economy. American Journal of Sociology, 101(2): 263301.Google Scholar
Weber, M. [1922] 1978. Economy and Society. University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif.Google Scholar
Weingast, B. 1995. The economic role of political institutions: market-preserving federalism and economic development. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, 11: 131.Google Scholar
White, G., & Wade, R. 1988. Developmental states and markets in East Asia: an introduction. In White, G. (Ed.), Developmental state in East Asia: 119. Macmillan, Basingstoke.Google Scholar
Whitley, R. 1999. Divergent Capitalisms. The Social Structuring and Change of Business Systems. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Wong, C. 1992. Fiscal reform and local industrialization: the problematic sequencing of reform in post-Mao China. Modern China, 18: 197227.Google Scholar
Wong, S., Opper, S., & Hu, R. 2004. Shareholding structure, de-politicization and enterprise performance: lessons from China's listed companies. Economics of Transition, 12: 2966.Google Scholar
Woo, W. T. 2002. Some unorthodox thoughts on China's unorthodox financial Sector. China Economic Review, 13: 388393.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2004. World Development Indicators. World Bank, Washington D.C.Google Scholar
Xu, X., & Wang, Y. 1999. Ownership structure and corporate governance in Chinese stock companies. China Economics Review, 10: 7598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yao, Y. (Ed.). 2001. Hangzhou Shouce. Hangzhou Chubanshe, Hangzhou.Google Scholar
Zhongguo, RenminDaxue, Jinrongyu Zhengquan, Yanjiusuo (Ed.). 2000. Zhongguo Zhengquan Fagui Zonghui, Zhongguo Caizheng Jingji Chubanshe, Beijing.Google Scholar
Zhu, T. 1999. China's corporatization drive: an evaluation and policy implications. Contemporary Economic Policy, 17: 530539.Google Scholar