The English version of this paper is at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=878672

Chinese Abstract: 本文评价中国正式法律制度的发展，并分析其在后毛的经济改革时代所起到的作用。我们发现“权利假设”（即认为经济发展需要一种能够提供稳定和具有可预测性的财产权和合同权的理论）对于解释中国的经济发展的作用不大。

English Abstract: This article assesses the development of the formal legal system in China and analyzes its role in the economy in the post-Mao reform era. We first characterize the role of law at the beginning of reform, a role that focused on running the state sector rather than on private economic activity. We then provide a timeline of the reforms in the legal system that gradually altered the mix of economic agents within the economy and increased the importance of activities outside the supervision of government administrators.

The article then provides an explanation of the role of law in three prominent spheres of activity: property rights, agreements to trade goods and services, and corporate governance. The questions motivating the discussion in all three areas are whether law plays an important role, how that role has changed over time, and what the current problems are. Although the conclusions differ across areas, one common theme is that the rights hypothesis -- a line of thought holding that economic growth requires a legal order offering stable and predictable rights of property and contract -- provides little explanatory power for China.