Publication

This paper discusses how the Chinese government's attitude towards the merger of state-owned companies has shifted since 2015. The text’s author specifically argues that the guidelines issued in September 2015, which emphasized the importance of separating state suppliers of public goods from more commercial state firms, seemed to say that the commercial firms would henceforth have to play by the rules of the marketplace. Well, that possibility didn’t last – i.e., by late 2016 the more traditional goal of mopping up excess supply and inefficient companies through mergers has reasserted itself.