Although business people often regard licensing requirements as a major obstacle to investment and new ventures, the development of a well-designed regulatory licensing system is also widely believed to promote social welfare. This book explores existing regulatory licensing systems in China and critically appraises them using a law and economic approach. The book is in three main parts. The first section presents a general description of Chinese regulatory licensing systems. The second part of the book discusses the design and evaluation of regulatory licensing systems by applying law and economic theories to three major issues â?? the use of licensing as a means of regulation and as opposed to other means of regulation; the setting up of standards imposed through regulatory licensing systems; and the arrangement of procedures adopted for regulatory licensing systems. Based on the above theoretical framework, the third part of the book develops a critical evaluation of current Chinese regulatory licensing systems. In particular, it deeply examines licensing regimes for three sectors: lawyers, taxis, and pharmaceutical products in China.ò