The Rise of State-Connected Private Owners in China

Working Paper: NBER ID: w28170

Authors: Chongen Bai; Changtai Hsieh; Zheng Michael Song; Xin Wang

Abstract: We use administrative registration records with information on the owners of all Chinese firms to document their connections through equity investments. We show that the largest private owners have direct equity ties with state owners, the next largest private owners have equity ties with private owners that themselves have equity ties with state owners, and the smallest private owners do not have any ties with state owners. The network of “state-connected” private owners has expanded over the last two decades. The share of registered capital of “state-connected” private owners increased by almost 20 percentage points between 2000 and 2019.

Keywords: state-connected private owners; China; economic transformation

JEL Codes: E0; F0; O0; P0


Causal Claims Network Graph

Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.


Causal Claims

CauseEffect
state ownership (H13)large private ownership (P14)
large private ownership (P14)small private ownership (P14)
state ownership (H13)network of state-connected private owners (P31)

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