IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/revpol/v41y2024i1p239-275.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Recentralization and the long‐lasting effect of campaign‐style enforcement: From the perspective of authority allocation

Author

Listed:
  • Di Dong
  • Rong Ran
  • Bingsheng Liu
  • Jinfeng Zhang
  • Chengcheng Song
  • Jing Wang

Abstract

This paper discusses whether the effect of campaign‐style enforcement can surpass the short term from the perspective of authority allocation. Based on the theory of authority allocation, we establish an explanatory framework for the impact of authority allocation on the effect of campaign‐style enforcement. We argue that, through authority allocation, the central government has both formal authority and real authority, which helps to extend the effect of campaign‐style enforcement beyond the short term. We empirically studied the regulatory compliance in China's environmental administrative talk from 2014 to 2016. Statistical findings supported by robustness checks confirm our theoretical hypotheses. Further analysis shows that campaign‐style enforcement can be more effective when local officials have longer tenure, higher levels of education, or older age. Our paper shows that authority recentralization on specific issues can bridge the conflict of policy goals between central and local governments, prolonging the effect of campaign‐style enforcement. Este documento analiza si el efecto de la aplicación de estilo de campaña puede superar el corto plazo desde la perspectiva de la asignación de autoridad. Con base en la teoría de la asignación de autoridad, establecemos un marco explicativo para el impacto de la asignación de autoridad en el efecto de la aplicación de estilo de campaña. Argumentamos que, a través de la asignación de autoridad, el gobierno central tiene autoridad formal y autoridad real, lo que ayuda a extender el efecto de la aplicación de estilo de campaña más allá del corto plazo. Estudiamos empíricamente el cumplimiento de la normativa en el discurso administrativo ambiental de China de 2014 a 2016. Los hallazgos estadísticos respaldados por controles de solidez confirman nuestras hipótesis teóricas. Un análisis más detallado muestra que la aplicación del estilo de campaña puede ser más efectiva cuando los funcionarios locales tienen más tiempo en el cargo, niveles más altos de educación o edad avanzada. Nuestro documento muestra que la recentralización de la autoridad en temas específicos puede salvar el conflicto de objetivos de política entre los gobiernos central y local, prolongando el efecto de la aplicación de estilo de campaña. 本文从权力分配的视角探讨了运动式执法能否产生持久的效果。基于权力分配理论,我们就权力分配对运动式执法效果的影响提出了一项解释性框架。我们论证认为,通过权力分配,中央政府既有正式权力也有实际权力,这有助于将运动式执法的效果扩大到短期之外。我们实证研究了2014‐2016年中国环境行政约谈中的监管zu。统计结果通过了稳健性检验,证实了我们的理论假设。进一步分析表明,当地方官员任期较长、受教育程度较高或年龄较大时,运动式执法会更有效。我们的论文表明,在具体问题上进行重新集权,能消除中央和地方政府之间政策目标的冲突,延长运动式执法的效果。

Suggested Citation

  • Di Dong & Rong Ran & Bingsheng Liu & Jinfeng Zhang & Chengcheng Song & Jing Wang, 2024. "Recentralization and the long‐lasting effect of campaign‐style enforcement: From the perspective of authority allocation," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 41(1), pages 239-275, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:revpol:v:41:y:2024:i:1:p:239-275
    DOI: 10.1111/ropr.12548
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ropr.12548
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ropr.12548?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. Michelle Rodrigue & Michel Magnan & Charles Cho, 2013. "Is Environmental Governance Substantive or Symbolic? An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 107-129, April.
    2. Patten, Dennis M., 2005. "The accuracy of financial report projections of future environmental capital expenditures: a research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 457-468, July.
    3. 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.
    4. Petra Moser & Alessandra Voena, 2012. "Compulsory Licensing: Evidence from the Trading with the Enemy Act," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 396-427, February.
    5. Oriana Bandiera & Michael Carlos Best & Adnan Qadir Khan & Andrea Prat, 2021. "The Allocation of Authority in Organizations: A Field Experiment with Bureaucrats," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(4), pages 2195-2242.
    6. Zhang, Bing & Chen, Xiaolan & Guo, Huanxiu, 2018. "Does central supervision enhance local environmental enforcement? Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 70-90.
    7. Wenlong He & Wei Yang & Seong-jin Choi, 2018. "The Interplay Between Private and Public Regulations: Evidence from ISO 14001 Adoption Among Chinese Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 477-497, October.
    8. Aghion, Philippe & Tirole, Jean, 1997. "Formal and Real Authority in Organizations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(1), pages 1-29, February.
    9. Giovanni Favara & Jean Imbs, 2015. "Credit Supply and the Price of Housing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(3), pages 958-992, March.
    10. Harry M. Trebing, 2008. "A Critical Assessment of Electricity and Natural Gas Deregulation," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 469-477, June.
    11. Lin, Karen Jingrong & Tan, Jinsong & Zhao, Liming & Karim, Khondkar, 2015. "In the name of charity: Political connections and strategic corporate social responsibility in a transition economy," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 327-346.
    12. 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.
    13. Xuefei Lin & Xianglin Xu, 2017. "Structural restraints and institutional innovation in local governance: a case study of administrative examination and approval system reforms in Shunde, Ningbo, and Taizhou," Journal of Chinese Governance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 20-49, January.
    14. Ernst Fehr & Holger Herz & Tom Wilkening, 2013. "The Lure of Authority: Motivation and Incentive Effects of Power," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(4), pages 1325-1359, June.
    15. Lü, Xiaobo & Landry, Pierre F., 2014. "Show Me the Money: Interjurisdiction Political Competition and Fiscal Extraction in China," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 706-722, August.
    16. Ethan Bueno de Mesquita & Eric S. Dickson, 2007. "The Propaganda of the Deed: Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Mobilization," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(2), pages 364-381, April.
    17. 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.
    18. Christopher Marquis & Cuili Qian, 2014. "Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 127-148, February.
    19. Farrelly, M.C. & Healton, C.G. & Davis, K.C. & Messeri, P. & Hersey, J.C. & Haviland, M.L., 2002. "Getting to the truth: Evaluating national tobacco countermarketing campaigns," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(6), pages 901-907.
    20. David Powell & Seth Seabury, 2018. "Medical Care Spending and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Workers' Compensation Reforms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(10), pages 2995-3027, October.
    21. Kathryn Harrison & Werner Antweiler, 2003. "Incentives for pollution abatement: Regulation, regulatory threats, and non-governmental pressures," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(3), pages 361-382.
    22. David P. Carter & Saba Siddiki, 2021. "Participation rationales, regulatory enforcement, and compliance motivations in a voluntary program context," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 317-332, April.
    23. Magdalena Dobrajska & Stephan Billinger & Samina Karim, 2015. "Delegation Within Hierarchies: How Information Processing and Knowledge Characteristics Influence the Allocation of Formal and Real Decision Authority," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 687-704, June.
    24. Saba Siddiki & Xavier Basurto & Christopher M. Weible, 2012. "Using the institutional grammar tool to understand regulatory compliance: The case of Colorado aquaculture," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(2), pages 167-188, June.
    25. Min Maung & Craig Wilson & Xiaobo Tang, 2016. "Political Connections and Industrial Pollution: Evidence Based on State Ownership and Environmental Levies in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(4), pages 649-659, November.
    26. Malesky, Edmund J. & Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Tran, Anh, 2014. "The Impact of Recentralization on Public Services: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis of the Abolition of Elected Councils in Vietnam," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(1), pages 144-168, February.
    27. Zhang, Cui, 2017. "Political connections and corporate environmental responsibility: Adopting or escaping?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 539-547.
    28. Mark Lubell, 2004. "Collaborative environmental institutions: All talk and no action?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 549-573.
    29. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    30. Douglas Almond & Yuyu Chen & Michael Greenstone & Hongbin Li, 2009. "Winter Heating or Clean Air? Unintended Impacts of China's Huai River Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 184-190, May.
    31. Fan Wang & Lili Feng & Jin Li & Lin Wang, 2020. "Environmental Regulation, Tenure Length of Officials, and Green Innovation of Enterprises," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-16, March.
    32. Yao Liu & Jiannan Wu & Hongtao Yi & Jing Wen, 2021. "Under what conditions do governments collaborate? A qualitative comparative analysis of air pollution control in China," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(11), pages 1664-1682, November.
    33. Hongbin Li & Li-An Zhou, 2003. "Political Turnover and Economic Performance: The Disciplinary Role of Personnel Control in China," Discussion Papers 00002, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Economics.
    34. Beck, T.H.L. & Levine, R. & Levkov, A., 2009. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers From Bank Deregulation in the United States," Other publications TiSEM d02bd971-3f22-46fb-82a9-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    35. D. Mark Anderson & David Elsea, 2015. "The Meth Project and Teen Meth Use: New Estimates from the National and State Youth Risk Behavior Surveys," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(12), pages 1644-1650, December.
    36. Gary Lynch-Wood & David Williamson, 2014. "Civil Regulation, the Environment and the Compliance Orientations of SMEs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 467-480, December.
    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. Rongbing Huang & Xiaomin Zou, 2025. "Accountability audits of natural resources and industrial green total factor productivity: evidence from China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.

    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. Tan, Jing & Liu, Tianyi & Xu, Hao, 2024. "The environmental and economic consequences of environmental centralization: Evidence from China's environmental vertical management reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. repec:zbw:bofitp:2019_004 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Zhu, Dandan & Chen, Ke & Sun, Chuanwang & Lyu, Chaofeng, 2023. "Does environmental pollution liability insurance promote environmental performance? Firm-level evidence from quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    4. Zhang, Weike & Luo, Qian & Liu, Shiyuan, 2022. "Is government regulation a push for corporate environmental performance? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 105-121.
    5. Yuping Deng & Yanrui Wu & Helian Xu, 2020. "Political Connections and Firm Pollution Behaviour: An Empirical Study," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(4), pages 867-898, April.
    6. 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.
    7. Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Chenhao & Ye, Wenxu, 2023. "Randomized inspection and firm's government subsidies: A natural experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Zhihua Tian & Yanfang Tian & Yang Chen & Shuai Shao, 2020. "The economic consequences of environmental regulation in China: From a perspective of the environmental protection admonishing talk policy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 1723-1733, May.
    10. Fan, Xiaomin & Xu, Yingzhi, 2023. "Does high-speed railway promote urban innovation? Evidence from China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    11. Ren Wang & Yuxiang Bian & Han Gao & Jie Hou, 2023. "Optimal Environmental Policy for Heterogeneous Governments in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-12, February.
    12. Sun, Chuanwang & Zhan, Yanhong & Du, Gang, 2020. "Can value-added tax incentives of new energy industry increase firm's profitability? Evidence from financial data of China's listed companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. Berger, Allen N. & Molyneux, Phil & Wilson, John O.S., 2020. "Banks and the real economy: An assessment of the research," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Da Gao & Chang Liu & Xinyan Wei & Yang Liu, 2023. "Can River Chief System Policy Improve Enterprises’ Energy Efficiency? Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Elisa Gerten & Michael Beckmann & Elisa Gerten & Matthias Kräkel, 2022. "Information and Communication Technology, Hierarchy, and Job Design," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 189, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    16. Jun Wang & Zhuofei Liu & Long Shi & Jinghua Tan, 2022. "The Impact of Low-Carbon Pilot City Policy on Corporate Green Technology Innovation in a Sustainable Development Context—Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-23, September.
    17. Yang, Mian & Yuan, Yining & Sun, Chuanwang, 2021. "The economic impacts of China's differential electricity pricing policy: Evidence from energy-intensive firms in Hunan Province," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    18. Shusen Qi & Ralph De Haas & Steven Ongena & Stefan Straetmans & Tamas Vadasz, 2024. "Move a little closer? Information sharing and the spatial clustering of bank branches," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 28(6), pages 1881-1918.
    19. Cheng, Yudan & Jia, Shanghui & Meng, Huan, 2022. "Fiscal policy choices of local governments in China: Land finance or local government debt?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 294-308.
    20. Zhang, Yali & Li, Wenqi & Wu, Feng, 2020. "Does energy transition improve air quality? Evidence derived from China’s Winter Clean Heating Pilot (WCHP) project," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    21. Dan Pan & Yi Yu & Wei Hong & Shengdong Chen, 2024. "Does campaign-style environmental regulation induce green economic growth? Evidence from China's central environmental protection inspection policy," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(5), pages 2382-2406, August.

    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:revpol:v:41:y:2024:i:1:p:239-275. 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: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ipsonea.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.