Property Right System Reform Of State-owned Insurance Company Study

I. Backgrounds and Aim of the ResearchWhile insurance business has been resumed and boosted in the past two decades in China, Chinese insurance companies have entered into an epoch in which their institutions are transforming with the state's economy system shifting from plan-oriented to market-oriented, their operation modes are changing from extensive to intensive and their living environments are becoming open and competitive instead of closed and monopolistic. The conflicts arising from the endogenous institutional defects which mainly exist in property rights institution and incompatible with the market-oriented economy system, formerly covered by the speedy development of insurance business, have emerged onto the surface and hampered the development of the insurance industry. Practice has proved that the incremental improving of old institution employed in a long period previously can not solve the problem of state-owned insurance companies' low efficiency and poor performance in operation and governance completely. Chinese insurance companies will have great difficulty in handling with the forthcoming fierce competition if no adjustments are made, provided that insurance industry is among those that are on the point of opening to foreign rivals after China has joined WTO while reform of property rights institution in insurance industry lags behind that in other industries.This dissertation presents a typical policy research with an aim to provide theoretical support and practical instructions to the property rights institution reform of state-owned insurance companies. I have tried my best to infer the political implications from basic theories aswell as the facts in reality and avoid bringing forward suggestions arbitrarily for I maintain that it is meaningless or at least irresponsible to conduct policy research without any theoretical and practical basis or indiscriminately copy other experience. The profound idiom of "to seek truth from facts" can best summarize the dominant method of thinking throughout this essay.II. Basic Methodology and ApproachThis dissertation focuses on the state-owned insurance operation subjects in domestic insurance market. Starting from the behavior assumption that domestic state-owned insurance companies are profit-pursuing and applying the related theories of neo-institutional economics and property rights into the research, this dissertation analyzes the disadvantages existing in the operation and management of state-owned insurance companies caused by the defects of the enterprises' property rights institution. In light of critically summarizing and commenting on the adopted reform measures in the past, it also proposes several further reform suggestions and plans as countermoves. Normative and institutional analyzing are the main approaches in my research. The generality of enterprises institution in insurance companies and the specialty of insurance industry are both considered as well as the effects of historical and realistic factors in order to obtain an objective and comprehensive view as for this topic.III. Logical Structure and Main ContentsThis dissertation is arranged in the following orders:Chapter One The Nature and Behavioral Objects of State-owned Insurance Companies. In this chapter, we discuss two fundamental questions. Firstly, we must be fully aware of the connotation of the term of "state-owned insurance companies" so as to define the scope of our research objects. In this dissertation, I maintain that the term of "state-owned insurance companies" in general sense does not only referto the insurance companies exclusively held by the state but also should include the stock insurance companies in whose ownership structure the state-owned economy sector has a dominant share. Secondly, we discuss the behavioral objectives of state-owned insurance companies and look into insurance companies' behavior and find out their motives of operation in view of insurance companies' motive of operation in general sense. This...