As China's government manages a transition away from the socialist plan, how does it build the regulatory institutions it needs to manage the new market economy? Without the correct institutions, laws and agencies that implement the laws in place, the remarkable growth witnessed in China over the last two decades will falter. Financial sector reform lies at the heart of China's economic transition and China's stock market has become critical to the reform of state-owned industry, the supply of fiscal revenues and in building a modern pension system. The Development of China's Stockmarket takes a close look at the policy-making and regulatory institutions the government has created to manage equity development and shows how, in contrast to neo-institutional and economic theories of regulatory development, public actors have controlled institutional development.Focusing on the institutional development of the market, in particular its regulation, from the first issue of corporate equity in 1984 to the end of 2002, this book explains in detail how government officials have competed to orient the rules of the market to suit their own industrial and fiscal interests and the problems that have resulted. Issues examined in particular detail include: *The first 'shareholding' reforms in the mid-1980s *The relationship between the stockmarket and the Shenzhen riots in 1992, the treasury bond futures scandal in 1995 and the bank lending scandal in 1997 *The similarities and differences between China's regulatory institutions and those in the US *The drafting of the Securities Law in the National People's Congress Based on extensive field research in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing and over forty interviews with regulators and market players, The Development of China's Stockmarket provides the first detailed academic analysis of the country's stockmarket.With a comprehensive review of Chinese language literature available on the subject, this book is essential reading for all scholars with an interest in Asian Business and China's transition from socialism.

Stephen Green is the Head of the Asia Programme at The Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, London.