China has an appalling record of workplace safety in its coalmining industry. This article first traces the long-term trends of fatality at different types of coalmines, then analyzes why the number and rate of fatalities in the industry have remained so high, and finally discusses how the government has gradually overhauled its regulatory system to cope with the dreadful state of safety. Based on the case study, the article concludes that China’s transition from state socialism has not resulted in a Hayekian night-watchman state but in a new regulatory state, which exerts controls over a wide range of economic and social affairs via standard setting, supervision, monitoring, and enforcement.

Regulating Death at Coalmines:changing mode of governance in China