Political selection in China: The complementary roles of connections and performance

Arbeitspapier

Who becomes a top politician in China? We focus on provincial leaders - a pool of candidates for top political office - and examine how their chances of promotion depend on their performance in office and connections with top politicians. Our empirical analysis, based on the curriculum vitae of Chinese politicians, shows that connections and performance are complements in the Chinese political selection process. This complementarity is stronger the younger provincial leaders are relative to their connected top leaders. To provide one plausible interpretation of these empirical findings, we propose a simple theory in which the complementarity arises because connections foster loyalty of junior officials to senior ones, thereby allowing incumbent top politicians to select competent provincial leaders without risking being ousted. Auxiliary evidence suggests that the documented promotion pattern does not distort the allocation of talent. Our findings shed some light on why a political system known for patronage can still select competent leaders.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IFN Working Paper ; No. 1003

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government ; State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations: General ; Labor Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs ; Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: General
• Subject: Political turnover ; Economic performance ; Personnel control ; Social networks

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Jia, Ruixue ; Kudamatsu, Masayuki ; Seim, David
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/95631
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET