Ownership and technical efficiency: A cross-section study on the third industrial census of China

Our study on ownership and technical efficiency shows that enterprises with ownership types other than state ownership, domestic collective ownership, and joint domestic ownership are technically more efficient on average than these three types. This may indicate that, after 20 years of market-oriented economic reform, an appropriate operating environment and institutions for enterprises of nonstate or collective ownership types have been formed. However, the small number of observations on enterprises of nonstate or collective ownership types indicate that further promotion of enterprises of these other ownership types is needed to increase resource allocation efficiency. Many economists point out that the transition of China's economy from a command to a market economy is incomplete. Further privatization of SOEs, deregulation of other ownership forms, and reduction of government intervention in the economy are desirable for improving efficiency.