The managerial contractual form in China's township and village enterprise
(TVE) sector has evolved rapidly during the past 10 years. Our paper uses d
escriptive data and a theoretical model to demonstrate that these changes m
ay be occurring in response to the rapid development of markets in transiti
onal rural China. We econometrically test the model's main hypotheses, show
ing that the driving force behind the movement from a leader-run fixed-wage
contract to a fixed-payment contract with better incentives for the manage
r is the relative value of non-marketed inputs owned by local leaders and f
irm managers. Firm technical structure and local market setting also plays
a role in the determination of firm contractual form. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sci
ence B.V. All rights reserved.