The Effects of Privatization on Firm Productivity in China

We study the productivity effects of the world’s largest privatization program in China. Relying on a matching and difference-in-differences procedure, we find that privatizations robustly led to large productivity gains. Privatizations improved total factor productivity (TFP) by 13–15 percent, and this estimate is at the high end of the estimates obtained from other transitional countries. Further evidence suggests that productivity gains came from improvements in management quality.

The positive effect of privatization on TFP was more pronounced among firms in more competitive industries, which suggests complementarity between competition and privatizations. Privatizations worked less well for large state-owned entities under the oversight of the central government. Our evidence suggests that the privatization program was a key contributor to China’s growth in previous decades.