中国国有企业改革大体上与农村联产承包责任制是同时起步的。十几年来,“搞活国有企业”,特别是大中型国有企业,一直是反复强调的改革主题。但是从结果看,与其他领域的改革相比,国有企业的改革进展最为缓慢。对此,人们可以有许多理由提出批评或抱怨。然而,经济学的任务不仅仅在于提出“要改革”的问题,而且应对为什么“改不动”以及在何种条件下才可能“改得动”的问题作出解释。从一定意义上说,后一方面的问题更为深刻,因而更具有挑战性。其实,国有企业改革中“努力”与“结果”的不对称现象本身具有很高的分析价值,这种分析不仅对真正深化国有企业改革不可缺少,而且将有助于对中国经济改革的推进方式有更为切合实际的了解。 The reform of state-owned enterprises in China has generally started at the same time as the rural contract responsibility system for joint production. For more than a decade, “invigorating state-owned enterprises”, especially large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises, has been the subject of repeated reforms. However, from the results, compared with other areas of reforms, state-owned enterprises have made the slowest progress. There are many reasons why people can criticize or complain about this. However, the task of economics is not merely to put forward the question of “reform”, but also to explain why “cannot change” and under what conditions it is possible to “change”. In a certain sense, the latter problem is more profound and therefore more challenging. In fact, the asymmetry between “effort” and “result” in the reform of state-owned enterprises is of high analytical value. This analysis is not only indispensable for truly deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises, but will also contribute to the promotion of China’s economic reforms. There is a more realistic understanding.