Missing Data and the Effects of Market Deregulation : Evidence from Chinese Coal Power

A series of market reforms were introduced in 2002 in the Chinese wholesale coal power sector. The period immediately after is widely recognized as having had inconsistent service and many blackouts in China, and it is generally accepted that many of the reforms were not fully enacted. Yet, researchers consistently find that these reforms resulted in efficiency gains for power plants. Using new physical and matched financial data, as opposed to only financial data, I find no evidence that there were efficiency gains at the plant-level. I also find that in the aggregate there were large productivity declines over this period. A lack of efficiency gains would also imply that the reforms had no effect on reducing pollution. Any measurable gains in either case are mainly due to input and output price fluctuations