Does public ownership really help?

Township and village enterprises (hereafter TVEs) ¹ are a unique economic form in rural China, which are normally set up under local governments’ initiative as a joint consequence of the self-reliance fiscal system, the gradual relaxation of restrictions on rural households in engaging in non-agricultural activities, and the imperative of government to absorb the abundant rural labour force freed by the adoption of the household responsibility system (HRS).