Regional deregulation and entrepreneurial growth in China's transition economy

• Main Author: Zhou, Wubiao
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic development::China
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/94381; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/7504
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Despite a less favourable national institutional environment, the private entrepreneurial sector has developed rapidly in China¡¯s transition economy. To resolve this puzzle, this study argues that regional deregulation plays a significant role in China¡¯s entrepreneurial growth because it stimulates free markets and lifts predatory and discriminatory regulatory policies affecting entrepreneurship. I use provincial-level panel data (1998¨C2003) for hypothesis testing. The results, based on fixed effects estimation, suggest that deregulation indeed has a significantly positive effect on entrepreneurial growth within regions. In addition, this effect is found to be stronger in earlier years, as well as among less developed, inland regions.