About the Author

Sheng Hong is a Professor at the Economic Research Institute of Shandong University and Director of the Unirule Institute of Economics. He is among the top 50 economists in China. His other books include Division of Labor and Transactions (1992), Transitional Economics of China (1994, as the chief editor), Creating Peace Forever (1996), Seeking for a Stable Way for the Reform (2002), Governing a Large Country as Cooking Small Fishes: An Institutional Economics on Governments (2003), and The Great Wall and the Coase Theorem (2011). Two of his papers, "On Familism" (2008), "The Institutional Reason of the Financial Crisis in America (2011), should be paid special attention.

Zhao Nong is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Vice Chairman of the Academic Committee of the Unirule Institute of Economics. His research areas are institutional economics and industrial organization theory. Some of his representative works are: Barriers to Entry and Exit: Theory and Application (with Liu Xiaolu, 2007), What Can Protect China's Agricultural Security (with Mao Yushi, 2011).

This book provides a detailed description of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China with respect to both efficiency and income distribution. It demonstrates that state ownership in the form of SOEs does not use resources efficiently, holds a poor record in income distribution, and enjoys unfair advantages while competing with other firms. To illustrate this, the book presents data on how favored policies, monopolistic powers, and subsidies benefit SOEs.

Readership: Graduate students, professionals, general public, researchers on SOEs in China.

This book, with its rich empirical data and information, serves as an authoritative reference for researchers interested in SOEs. It is also a good read for students of social sciences and general public.