IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/pacecr/v26y2021i2p283-299.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changes in officials, total factor productivity fluctuation and government transformation: Evidence from Chinese prefecture cities

Author

Listed:
  • Yongze Yu
  • Zhe Wang
  • Dayong Liu
  • Liping Fu

Abstract

This paper investigates the interrelationships between changes in officials and total factor productivity (TFP) in China. The tournament competition for promotion results in a series of predicaments, such as excessive investment, duplicate construction, split regional markets and misallocations; these negative effects further inhibit local TFP. Local government transformation from driving investment to providing services can promote TFP. We use data from 230 prefecture cities between 1999 and 2013 and find the following: (a) in recent years with the process of government transformation, changes in officials have typically had less impact on TFP fluctuation than in previous years; (b) changes in officials mainly affect technology efficiency (TE) in TFP; and (c) the mediation model reveals that changes in officials' positions influences TFP through economic spillovers and tax competition. Overall, our paper offers novel evidence for the impact of government administration on productivity and technology development, which is significant for policy decisions during government transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Yongze Yu & Zhe Wang & Dayong Liu & Liping Fu, 2021. "Changes in officials, total factor productivity fluctuation and government transformation: Evidence from Chinese prefecture cities," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 283-299, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:pacecr:v:26:y:2021:i:2:p:283-299
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-0106.12315
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0106.12315
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1468-0106.12315?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yang Yao & Muyang Zhang, 2015. "Subnational leaders and economic growth: evidence from Chinese cities," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 405-436, December.
    2. Qian, Yingyi & Roland, Gerard, 1998. "Federalism and the Soft Budget Constraint," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1143-1162, December.
    3. Jin, Hehui & Qian, Yingyi & Weingast, Barry R., 2005. "Regional decentralization and fiscal incentives: Federalism, Chinese style," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1719-1742, September.
    4. Yu, Jihai & Zhou, Li-An & Zhu, Guozhong, 2016. "Strategic interaction in political competition: Evidence from spatial effects across Chinese cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 23-37.
    5. Liu, Dayong & Chen, Tong & Liu, Xiaoyang & Yu, Yongze, 2019. "Do more subsidies promote greater innovation? Evidence from the Chinese electronic manufacturing industry," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 441-452.
    6. 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.
    7. Alwyn Young, 2000. "The Razor's Edge: Distortions and Incremental Reform in the People's Republic of China," NBER Working Papers 7828, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Alwyn Young, 2000. "The Razor's Edge: Distortions and Incremental Reform in the People's Republic of China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1091-1135.
    9. Jun Zhang & Yuan Gao, 2008. "Term limits and rotation of Chinese governors: do they matter to economic growth?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 274-297.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xuan Yang & Geng Chen & Chunzi Qu & Zhixuan Chen & Yang Wen & Lei Shi & Feng Long, 2024. "Economic Policy Uncertainty and Co-Control of Air Pollutants and CO 2 : Evidence from 282 Cities in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-23, May.
    2. Ren, Xiaohang & An, Yaning & Jin, Chenglu & Yan, Cheng, 2024. "Weathering the policy storm: How climate strategy volatility shapes corporate total factor productivity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

    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. Yu Bai & Yanjun Li, 2022. "Political tournaments and regional growth‐enhancing policies: Evidence from Chinese prefectures," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(5), pages 1358-1385, November.
    2. 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.
    3. Lu Ming & Zhao Chen & Yongqin Wang & Yan Zhang & Yuan Zhang & Changyuan Luo, 2013. "China’s Economic Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14502.
    4. Markus Eberhardt & Zheng Wang & Zhihong Yu, 2013. "Intra-National Protectionism in China: Evidence from the Public Disclosure of ‘Illegal’ Drug Advertising," CSAE Working Paper Series 2013-07, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    5. Jin, Gang & Shen, Kunrong & Li, Jian, 2020. "Interjurisdiction political competition and green total factor productivity in China: An inverted-U relationship," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    6. Liu, Dayong & Xu, Chunfa & Yu, Yongze & Rong, Kaijian & Zhang, Junyan, 2020. "Economic growth target, distortion of public expenditure and business cycle in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    7. Hanming Fang & Ming Li & Zenan Wu, 2022. "Tournament-Style Political Competition and Local Protectionism: Theory and Evidence from China," NBER Working Papers 30780, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Yulia Muratova & Jakob Arnoldi & Xin Chen & Joachim Scholderer, 2018. "Political rotations and cross-province firm acquisitions in China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(1), pages 37-58, February.
    9. 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).
    10. Hongqi Ma & Guangjun Shen, 2021. "Do new mayors bring fresh air? Some evidence of regulatory capture in China," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 25(4), pages 227-249, December.
    11. He, Siyi & Liu, Jinsong & Ying, Qianwei, 2023. "Externalities of government-oriented support for innovation: Evidence from the national innovative city pilot policy in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    12. Shi, Xiangyu & Xi, Tianyang, 2018. "Race to safety: Political competition, neighborhood effects, and coal mine deaths in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 79-95.
    13. Guo, Hao & Minier, Jenny, 2021. "Borders, geography, and economic activity: The case of China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. Liu, Guy S. & Sun, Pei & Woo, Wing Thye, 2006. "The Political Economy of Chinese-Style Privatization: Motives and Constraints," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2016-2033, December.
    15. Zhou, Mohan & Lin, Faqin & Li, Tan, 2016. "Remote markets as shelters for local distortions: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 241-253.
    16. Qu, Xi & Xu, Zhiwei & Yu, Jinxiang & Zhu, Jun, 2023. "Understanding local government debt in China: A regional competition perspective," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    17. Li Fang & Chuanhao Tian & Xiaohong Yin & Yan Song, 2018. "Political Cycles and the Mix of Industrial and Residential Land Leasing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-24, August.
    18. Hongji Xie & Cunzhi Tian & Fangying Pang, 2023. "Multi-Tasking Policy Coordination and Corporate Environmental Performance: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-22, January.
    19. Jiang, Junyan & Mei, Yuan, 2020. "Mandarins make markets: Leadership rotations and inter-provincial trade in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).

    More about this item

    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:bla:pacecr:v:26:y:2021:i:2:p:283-299. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1361-374X .

    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.