[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jcecon/v50y2022i3p652-667.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crony capitalism, the party-state, and the political boundaries of corruption

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Weijia
  • Roland, Gérard
  • Xie, Yang
Abstract
We build a model that puts together crony capitalism, the hierarchy of the Chinese communist party-state, and the decision-making process inside the Party Center. We show that inefficient economic institutions create local corruption that raises realized productivity, while generating rents that flow along the party-state hierarchy up to the provincial level, threatening the Center’s control in potential crises. Although both stronger crisis control and higher economic performance help the Center’s goal to stay in power, we show that given a general fat-tailed risk of crisis, the Center will maximize crisis control at the expense of the economy when choosing its tolerance of local corruption. Power structure and corruption within the Center and reciprocal accountability between central and provincial leaders are also analyzed. Our analysis suggests conditions under which China’s communist regime will or will not deal with the existential threat presented by corruption.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Weijia & Roland, Gérard & Xie, Yang, 2022. "Crony capitalism, the party-state, and the political boundaries of corruption," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 652-667.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:50:y:2022:i:3:p:652-667
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2022.02.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147596722000178
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jce.2022.02.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Georgy Egorov & Konstantin Sonin, 2024. "The Political Economics of Non-democracy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(2), pages 594-636, June.
    2. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    3. Sng, Tuan-Hwee, 2014. "Size and dynastic decline: The principal-agent problem in late imperial China, 1700–1850," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 107-127.
    4. Ting Chen & James Kai-sing Kung, 2019. "Busting the “Princelings”: The Campaign Against Corruption in China’s Primary Land Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 185-226.
    5. Gerard Roland, 2018. "The evolution of post‐communist systems : Eastern Europe vs. China," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 26(4), pages 589-614, October.
    6. Eric Maskin & Yingyi Qian & Chenggang Xu, 2000. "Incentives, Information, and Organizational Form," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 67(2), pages 359-378.
    7. Chong-en Bai & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng Song, 2020. "Special Deals with Chinese Characteristics," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 341-379.
    8. Qianwei Ying & Jinsong Liu, 2018. "Anti-corruption campaign in China: good news or bad news for firm value?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(17), pages 1183-1188, October.
    9. Qian, Yingyi, 2017. "How Reform Worked in China: The Transition from Plan to Market," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026253424x, April.
    10. Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Political turnover and economic performance: the incentive role of personnel control in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1743-1762, September.
    11. Michael Song, 2014. "Crony Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics," 2014 Meeting Papers 1145, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. Bai, Chong-En & Du, Yingjuan & Tao, Zhigang & Tong, Sarah Y., 2004. "Local protectionism and regional specialization: evidence from China's industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 397-417, July.
    13. Patrick Francois & Francesco Trebbi & Kairong Xiao, 2023. "Factions in Nondemocracies: Theory and Evidence From the Chinese Communist Party," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(2), pages 565-603, March.
    14. Xie, Yinxi & Xie, Yang, 2017. "Machiavellian experimentation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 685-711.
    15. An, Heng & Chen, Yanyan & Luo, Danglun & Zhang, Ting, 2016. "Political uncertainty and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 174-189.
    16. Che, Jiahua & Chung, Kim-Sau & Qiao, Xue, 2019. "The king can do no wrong: On the criminal immunity of leaders," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 15-26.
    17. Qu, Guangjun & Sylwester, Kevin & Wang, Feng, 2018. "Anticorruption and growth: Evidence from China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 373-390.
    18. Guo, Di & Jiang, Kun & Kim, Byung-Yeon & Xu, Chenggang, 2014. "Political economy of private firms in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 286-303.
    19. Chenggang Xu, 2019. "The Pitfalls of a Centralized Bureaucracy," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 69(1), pages 1-16, March.
    20. He, Guojun & Xie, Yang & Zhang, Bing, 2020. "Expressways, GDP, and the environment: The case of China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eberhardt, Markus & Wang, Zheng & Yu, Zhihong, 2016. "From one to many central plans: Drug advertising inspections and intra-national protectionism in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 608-622.
    2. Cheng, Maoyong & Meng, Yu & Jin, Justin Yiqiang, 2024. "The impact of political leader's absence on air quality," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    3. James Kai‐sing Kung & Chicheng Ma, 2018. "Friends with Benefits: How Political Connections Help to Sustain Private Enterprise Growth in China," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 85(337), pages 41-74, January.
    4. Nan Jia & Kyle J. Mayer, 2017. "Political hazards and firms' geographic concentration," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 203-231, February.
    5. Qiang Liu & Ying Hao & Yong Du & Yuning Xing, 2020. "GDP competition and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 402-426, August.
    6. repec:zbw:bofitp:2020_005 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Lei, Yu-Hsiang, 2021. "Quid pro quo? Government-firm relationships in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    8. Li, Weijia & Roland, Gérard & Xie, Yang, 2020. "Erosion of state power, corruption control, and political stability," BOFIT Discussion Papers 5/2020, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    9. Liu, Shasha & Wu, Yuhuan & Kong, Gaowen, 2024. "Politics and Robots," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Cai, Weixing & Hu, Feng & Xu, Fangming & Zheng, Liyi, 2022. "Anti-corruption campaign and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    11. Zhi Wang & Miao Yu, 2022. "Political embeddedness and firms' growth," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 127-153, February.
    12. Chen, Yunsen & Huang, Jianqiao & Xiao, Sheng & Zhao, Ziye, 2020. "The “home bias” of corporate subsidiary locations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    13. Wei Xiong, 2018. "The Mandarin Model of Growth," NBER Working Papers 25296, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Jiwei Qian & Tuan‐Hwee Sng, 2021. "The state in Chinese economic history," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 359-395, November.
    15. Wang, Jiaxin & Huang, Xiang & Gu, Qiankun & Song, Zilong & Sun, Ruiyi, 2023. "How does fintech affect bank risk? A perspective based on financialized transfer of government implicit debt risk," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    16. Deng, Jiapin, 2023. "Born to be different: The role of local political leaders in poverty reduction in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Wu, Haijun & Yang, Jidong & Yang, Qijing, 2021. "The pressure of economic growth and the issuance of Urban Investment Bonds: Based on panel data from 2005 to 2011 in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Bo, Shiyu, 2020. "Centralization and regional development: Evidence from a political hierarchy reform to create cities in china," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    19. Junsong Wang & Bingquan Lin, 2024. "The dilemma between economic development and environmental protection: How political leadership turnover influences urban air pollution in China?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(9), pages 23663-23681, September.
    20. Kang, Shulong & Dong, Jianfeng & Yu, Haiyue & Cao, Jin & Dinger, Valeriya, 2021. "City commercial banks and credit allocation: Firm-level evidence," BOFIT Discussion Papers 4/2021, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    21. Jingjing Huang, 2023. "Doing good in periods of political turnover: the turnover of local officials, local corruption and corporate social responsibility," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(4), pages 781-833, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Autocracy; Corruption control; State apparatus; Reciprocal accountability; Chinese Communist Party;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • P30 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - General
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:50:y:2022:i:3:p:652-667. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622864 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.