State Banks as Amphibians: How Administrative and Commercial Principles Collaborate in China’s State Banks?

• In Event: 355 - Section on Economic Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. State and Markets in China

Abstract

China’s state banks, i.e. the big four, have all completed their reform from state monopolized to diverse ownership in 2010. The central government now functions as their dominant share-holder, and their main pursuit is said to be the commercial profits instead of political rewards. This study reviews the evolved relations of state government, state banks and state enterprises―the major agents in China’s economic system―and the critical events that propelled the banking reform. In the light of the macro- level market transition, this study questions whether substantive changes have actually happened inside the state banks in terms of president nomination, personnel training and loan decision. It means to investigate the micro operations of current state banks and interpret how administrative and commercial principles collaborate after bank restructures, with the help of statistical analyses, archive searching and fieldwork studies.

Author

• Ningzi Li, Cornell University