Abstract
This chapter compares state ownership of enterprises in China with that found in a variety of other countries. It focuses on both general patterns of state ownership and on the corporate governance implications of such arrangements. It argues that rather than thinking about Chinese state capitalism as a unique and exceptional system, we should think of it as a system with multiple similarities with state capitalism in other countries. In China and many other countries governments still hold majority and minority equity positions in tens, if not hundreds, of firms, either directly or indirectly, using pyramidal ownership structures. Finally, this chapter explains how new forms of majority and minority state ownership have reduced agency problems in SOEs, and ends by pointing out the few exceptional characteristics of the Chinese variety of state capitalism.