‘Runaway bosses’ in China: Private lending, credit crunches and the regulatory response

In recent years, the term ‘pao lu lao ban’, or ‘runaway bosses’ in English, has drawn intense attention from Chinese and Western media.[1] In China, it has been difficult for privately owned businesses to obtain loans from the state-run banking sector, as Chinese banks tend to make loans to other state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and refuse to lend to what they perceive as risky start-ups.