IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/23130.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Social Ties and Favoritism in Chinese Science

Author

Listed:
  • Raymond Fisman
  • Jing Shi
  • Yongxiang Wang
  • Rong Xu

Abstract

We study favoritism via hometown ties, a common source of favor exchange in China, in fellow selection of the Chinese Academies of Sciences and Engineering. Hometown ties to fellow selection committee members increase candidates' election probability by 39 percent, coming entirely from the selection stage involving an in-person meeting. Elected hometown-connected candidates are half as likely to have a high-impact publication as elected fellows without connections. CAS/CAE membership increases the probability of university leadership appointments and is associated with a US$9.5 million increase in annual funding for fellows' institutions, indicating that hometown favoritism has potentially large effects on resource allocation.

Suggested Citation

  • Raymond Fisman & Jing Shi & Yongxiang Wang & Rong Xu, 2017. "Social Ties and Favoritism in Chinese Science," NBER Working Papers 23130, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23130
    Note: DEV LS POL
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23130.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Lauren Cohen & Andrea Frazzini & Christopher Malloy, 2010. "Sell‐Side School Ties," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(4), pages 1409-1437, August.
    3. Lauren Cohen & Andrea Frazzini & Christopher Malloy, 2008. "The Small World of Investing: Board Connections and Mutual Fund Returns," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 951-979, October.
    4. Christopher A. Parsons & Johan Sulaeman & Michael C. Yates & Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2011. "Strike Three: Discrimination, Incentives, and Evaluation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1410-1435, June.
    5. Georgy Egorov & Konstantin Sonin, 2011. "Dictators And Their Viziers: Endogenizing The Loyalty–Competence Trade‐Off," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(5), pages 903-930, October.
    6. Xiao-Ping Chen & Chao C. Chen, 2004. "On the Intricacies of the Chinese Guanxi: A Process Model of Guanxi Development," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 305-324, September.
    7. Natalia Zinovyeva & Manuel Bagues, 2015. "The Role of Connections in Academic Promotions," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 264-292, April.
    8. Kevin M. Murphy & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1991. "The Allocation of Talent: Implications for Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 503-530.
    9. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2009. "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1403-1448.
    10. Brandt, Loren & Van Biesebroeck, Johannes & Zhang, Yifan, 2012. "Creative accounting or creative destruction? Firm-level productivity growth in Chinese manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 339-351.
    11. Amit K. Khandelwal & Peter K. Schott & Shang-Jin Wei, 2013. "Trade Liberalization and Embedded Institutional Reform: Evidence from Chinese Exporters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2169-2195, October.
    12. Perotti, Roberto & Labartino, Giovanna, 2011. "Academic Dynasties: Decentralization and Familism in the Italian Academia," CEPR Discussion Papers 8645, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Alwyn Young, 2003. "Gold into Base Metals: Productivity Growth in the People's Republic of China during the Reform Period," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(6), pages 1220-1261, December.
    14. Acemoglu, Daron, 1995. "Reward structures and the allocation of talent," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 17-33, January.
    15. Ruixue Jia & Masayuki Kudamatsu & David Seim, 2015. "Political Selection In China: The Complementary Roles Of Connections And Performance," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 631-668, August.
    16. Lauren Cohen & Christopher J. Malloy, 2014. "Friends in High Places," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 63-91, August.
    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. Lu, Jiankun & Zhang, Hongsheng & Meng, Bo, 2021. "Corruption, firm productivity, and gains from import liberalization in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    2. Mayneris, Florian & Poncet, Sandra & Zhang, Tao, 2018. "Improving or disappearing: Firm-level adjustments to minimum wages in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 20-42.
    3. Chen, Binkai & Lin, Justin Yifu, 2021. "Development strategy, resource misallocation and economic performance," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 612-634.
    4. Shiyu Bo, 2021. "Environmental Regulations, Political Incentives and Local Economic Activities: Evidence from China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 812-835, June.
    5. Brandt, Loren & Van Biesebroeck, Johannes & Zhang, Yifan, 2012. "Creative accounting or creative destruction? Firm-level productivity growth in Chinese manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 339-351.
    6. Raymond Fisman & Daniel Paravisini & Vikrant Vig, 2017. "Cultural Proximity and Loan Outcomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 457-492, February.
    7. Cao, Kang Hua & Birchenall, Javier A., 2013. "Agricultural productivity, structural change, and economic growth in post-reform China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 165-180.
    8. Dong Cheng, 2021. "Housing boom and non-housing consumption: evidence from urban households in China," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(6), pages 3271-3313, December.
    9. Loren Brandt & Johannes Van Biesebroeck & Luhang Wang & Yifan Zhang, 2017. "WTO Accession and Performance of Chinese Manufacturing Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(9), pages 2784-2820, September.
    10. Joseph D Piotroski & T J Wong & Tianyu Zhang, 2022. "Political Networks and Stock Price Comovement: Evidence from Network-Connected Firms in China [Do some outside directors play a political role?]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(3), pages 521-559.
    11. Hu, Zhongzhong & Rodrigue, Joel & Tan, Yong & Yu, Chunhai, 2017. "Product churning, reallocation, and Chinese export growth," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 147-164.
    12. Gu, Shijun & Jia, Chengcheng, 2022. "Firm dynamics and SOE transformation during China’s Economic Reform," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    13. Qiusha Peng, 2019. "Financial Frictions, Entry and Growth: A Study of China," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 34, pages 267-282, October.
    14. Henrekson, Magnus & Sanandaji, Tino, 2011. "The interaction of entrepreneurship and institutions," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 47-75, March.
    15. Berkowitz, Daniel & Nishioka, Shuichiro, 2024. "The growth of firms, markets and rents: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 383-399.
    16. Dong Cheng & Zhongzhong Hu & Yong Tan, 2021. "Heterogeneous impacts of finance on firm exports: Evidence from export deregulation in a large developing country," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(11), pages 3326-3350, November.
    17. repec:zbw:bofitp:2020_020 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Sai Ding & Alessandra Guariglia & Richard Harris, 2016. "The determinants of productivity in Chinese large and medium-sized industrial firms, 1998–2007," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 131-155, April.
    19. Cheng Chen & Wei Tian & Miaojie Yu, 2019. "Outward FDI and Domestic Input Distortions: Evidence from Chinese Firms," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(624), pages 3025-3057.
    20. Kirill Shakhnov, 2022. "The Allocation of Talent: Finance versus Entrepreneurship," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 46, pages 161-195, October.
    21. Feng, Xiao & Wang, Yongjin & Zhao, Laixun, 2022. "Export capacity constraints and distortions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:nbr:nberwo:23130. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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.