Chinese Regulatory Licensing System

Although business people often regard licensing requirements as a major obstacle to investment and new ventures, the development of a well-designed regulatory licensing system is also widely believed to promote social welfare. The book explores existing regulatory licensing systems in China and critically appraises them using a law-and-economic approach. This book is in three main parts. The first presents a general description of Chinese regulatory licensing systems. Secondly, the book discusses the design and evaluation of regulatory licensing systems by applying law-and-economic theories to three major issues. These issues are: the use of licensing as a means of regulation and as opposed to other means of regulation; the setting up of standards imposed through regulatory licensing systems; and the arrangement of procedures adopted for regulatory licensing systems. Thirdly, on the basis of the above theoretical framework, this book develops a critical evaluation of current Chinese regulatory licensing systems from the aforementioned three issues. In particular, it deeply examines licensing regimes for three sectors: lawyers, taxis and pharmaceutical products in China. The book will be of great interest to scholars, practitioners and policymakers.