The case of China seems to present a counterexample to the literature on economic institutions as its private enterprises have achieved spectacular growth despite poor protection of private properties and difficulties in accessing external finance. In this study, we address this apparent puzzle...

Property rights protection has been found to promote economic growth at the macro level, and affect the incentive for investment at the micro level. What is not clear is whether and how property rights protection affects a firm's allocation of investment across industries for a given size of...

The investigation of the value of political connections has attracted economists' interests in the recent years. This paper, by using a survey of Chinese private firms in 2004, empirically studies the impact of political connections (measured as the deputy to the Chinese People's Congress) on...