Who Should Be Running Ahead? The Roles of Two Types of Entrepreneurship in China's Contemporary Economy

Abstract

One of the most important transitions of China from a centrally planned economy to a market-based economy was the emergence of entrepreneurship in two different forms of private enterprise, viz. getihu and siyingqiye. Using a unique database for 31 Chinese regions over the period 1997-2009, we investigate the economic antecedents of regional rates of getihu and siyingqiye, and find that the antecedents of these rates are substantially different. We also investigate the mutual interactions between getihu and siyingqiye at the regional level. Our analysis suggests that both types of entrepreneurship play important but distinct roles in stimulating China’s economic development.

Keywords: China, Entrepreneurship, economics of entrepreneurship

JEL Classification: A10, L26