Skip to main content

The Economic Impact of Anti-corruption Campaigns: New Materials for New Research Agendas in China

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 240 Accesses

Abstract

Corruption plagues both developed and developing countries. It is a serious obstacle to China’s development, perilous to ignore. However, characterised by the most secretive types of behaviour, studying corruption is particularly difficult. Applying the vector autoregressive model (VAR) to consecutive 36-month data, we analyse empirically the corruption status quo and its impact in China. We find a short-term negative impact of the current anti-corruption campaign in China on the economic growth of its state-owned industries, while any positive effect, e.g. improving the quality of economic growth, can not be demonstrated. The objective data used reduce significantly the confusion surrounding traditional (anti-)corruption studies, which have relied heavily on survey data or subjective evaluation.

The data, statistical code and supporting information can be found at Harvard Dataverse (view at doi:https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/MK1NBK). The author thanks Dr. Weimin Jiang and Mike Bastin for the contribution to the earlier version.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Global Corruption Barometer 2013 Report <https://www.transparency.org/gcb2013/report> [1 June 2014].

  2. 2.

    Bid data on anti-corruption in 2015 <http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0115/c1001-28057743.html> [1 May 2016].

  3. 3.

    Zhou Yongkang is a retired senior leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC). He was a member of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), China’s highest decision-making body, and the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (Zheng fawei) between 2007 and 2012.

References

  • Apergis N, Dincer OC, Payne JE (2010) The relationship between corruption and income inequality in US states: evidence from a panel cointegration and error correction model. Public Choice 145(1):125–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen F (2000) Subsistence crises, managerial corruption and labour protests in China. China J 44:41–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drury AC, Krieckhaus J, Lusztig M (2006) Corruption, democracy, and economic growth. Int Polit Sci Rev 27(2):121–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graycar A, Prenzler TJ (2013) Understanding and preventing corruption. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Guo Y (2008) Corruption in transitional China: an empirical analysis. China Q 194(194):349–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta S, Davoodi H, Alonso-Terme R (2002) Does corruption affect income inequality and poverty? Econ Gov 3(1):23–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gyimah-Brempong K (2002) Corruption, economic growth, and income inequality in Africa. Econ Gov 3(3):183–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heidenheimer AJ, Johnston M, LeVine VT (1970) Political corruption, vol 24. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, pp 26–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Heywood PM (2015) Measuring corruption: perspectives, critiques, and limits. In: Routledge handbook of political corruption. Routledge, New York, pp 137–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang LJ, Snell RS (2003) Turnaround, corruption and mediocrity: leadership and governance in three state owned enterprises in Mainland China. J Bus Ethics 43(1/2):111–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keliher M, Wu H (2016) Corruption, anticorruption, and the transformation of political culture in contemporary China. J Asian Stud 75(1):5–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King G, Pan J, Roberts ME (2013) Reverse engineering Chinese censorship: randomized experimentation and participant observation. Science 345(6199):1251722

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwong J (1997) The political economy of corruption in China. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk

    Google Scholar 

  • Li C (2012) The end of the CCP’s resilient authoritarianism? A tripartite assessment of shifting power in China. China Q 211:595–623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu APL (1983) The politics of corruption in the People’s Republic of China. Am Polit Sci Rev 77(3):602–623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu X (2000) Booty socialism, bureau-preneurs, and the state in transition: organizational corruption in China. Comp Polit 32:273–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manion M (2004) Corruption by design: building clean government in mainland China and Hong Kong. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Millington A, Eberhardt M, Wilkinson B (2005) Gift giving, “Guanxi” and illicit payments in buyer-supplier relations in China: analysing the experience of UK companies. J Bus Ethics 57(3):255–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mo PH (2001) Corruption and economic growth. J Comp Econ 29(1):66–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radosevic S (2006) World investment report 2005: transnational corporations and the internationalization of R&D. Transl Corp 15(3):197–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Root HL (2001) Asia’s bad old ways: reforming business by reforming its environment. Foreign Aff 80(2):9–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose-Ackerman S, Palifka BJ (2016) Corruption and government: causes, consequences, and reform. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rothstein B, Eek D (2009) Political corruption and social trust: an experimental approach. Ration Soc 21(1):81–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson S (2005) Integrity warriors: global morality and the anti-corruption movement in the Balkans. In: Corruption: anthropological perspectives. Pluto Press, London, pp 103–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun Y (2004) Corruption and market in contemporary China. Cornell University Press, Ithaca

    Google Scholar 

  • Ting G (1997) Forms and characteristics of China’s corruption in the 1990s: change with continuity. Communis Post-Commun 30(3):277–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace JL (2016) Juking the stats? Authoritarian information problems in China. Soc Sci Electron Publ 46:1), 1–1),19

    Google Scholar 

  • Wedeman A (2012) Double paradox: rapid growth and rising corruption in China. Cornell University Press, Ithaca

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Williams RH, Zimmerman DW, Zumbo BD, Ross D (2003) Charles Spearman: British behavioral scientist. Human Nat Rev 3(12):114–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Yusuf HO (2011) Rule of law and politics of anti-corruption campaigns in a post-authoritarian state: the case of Nigeria. King’s Law J 22(1):57–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeng Q, Yang Y (2017) Informal networks as safety nets: the role of personal ties in China’s anti-corruption campaign. China Int J 15:26–57

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Appendix 1: The Economic Impact of Anti-corruption Campaigns: New Materials for New Research Agendas in China

Appendix 1: The Economic Impact of Anti-corruption Campaigns: New Materials for New Research Agendas in China

Table 3.8 Summary of corruption measurement
Table 3.9 Distribution of data by type of data sources in the 2008 WGI
Table 3.10 The number and types of institutions inspected by the inspection teams of the CCDI
Table 3.11 Original data
Fig. 3.2
figure 2

Spline interpolant (January 2014, 2015) data on income, costs and management fees, respectively; The spots in the figures are the filling data

The following are the monthly data showing the number of CPC discipline punishments, the main business income and costs and the management fees of state-owned industrial enterprises employed in cointegration VECM in the body of this chapter. Since the latter three have missing data in January of both years, we use the method of spline interpolant (by adding the data of December 2013 to improve the accuracy) (Table 3.11).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Zang, L. (2019). The Economic Impact of Anti-corruption Campaigns: New Materials for New Research Agendas in China. In: Re-understanding of Contemporary Chinese Political Development . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1250-2_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics