Data and Code for: Social Ties and the Selection of China's Political Elite

Version
2
Resource Type
Dataset
:
observational data
Creator
- Fisman, Raymond (Boston University)
- Wang, Yonxiang (University of Southern California)
- Shi, Jing (Macquarie University)
- Wu, Weixing (University of International Business and Economics)
Publication Date
2020-05-15
Funding Reference
-
National Science Foundation
- Award Number: 1729784
Free Keywords
Social Ties; Political connections; China; Politburo; Political selection
Description
-
Abstract
We study how sharing a hometown or college connection with an incumbent member of China's Politburo affects a candidate's likelihood of selection as a new member. In specifications that include fixed effects to absorb quality differences across cities and colleges, we find that hometown and college connections are each associated with 5-9 percentage point reductions in selection probability. This "connections penalty"
is equally strong for retiring Politburo members, arguing against quota-based explanations, and it is much stronger for junior Politburo members, consistent with a role for intra-factional competition. Our findings differ from earlier work because of our emphasis on within-group variation, and our focus on shared hometown and college -- rather than shared workplace -- connections.
Temporal Coverage
-
1950-01-01 / 2017-12-31Time Period: Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1950--Sun Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 2017 (1950s-present)
Geographic Coverage
-
China
Sampled Universe
Politicians in the China's Central Committee.
Availability
Download
Publications
-
Fisman, Raymond, Jing Shi, Yongxiang Wang, and Wu Weixing. “Social Ties and the Selection of China’s Political Elite.” American Economic Review, n.d.
Update Metadata: 2020-05-18 | Issue Number: 2 | Registration Date: 2020-05-15