Cal B. Muckley: In this study the authors seek to test changing levels of favoritism in credit availability toward Chinese government firms, which are controlled either centrally or locally, relative to other A-share-listed Chinese firms, which are not principally controlled by the state. The sample period studied is 2003 to 2011.
It would appear to be a well-established fact that private firms do experience discrimination in access to credit relative to state-controlled firms (see, inter alia, Ding et al. 2013), but the research question raised here is innovative in that it addresses whether the state influence in this regard is being extended or curtailed in recent times. This is measured by an assessment of the relative importance, in the extension of credit, of Chinese government firms, which are controlled either centrally or locally. The object of the study is hence an important empirical test of a centrally important macroeconomic...