IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ememar/v66y2025ics1566014125000391.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The employment effects of anticorruption: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Xu, Xiangbing
  • Dong, Nanyan
  • Wu, Chengzhang
  • Luo, Sicheng

Abstract

This study examines whether China's anticorruption efforts affect firm employment. We find that Chinese provinces with higher pre-existing levels of corruption experience significant increases in the employment scale of listed firms post-campaign. Two channels through which anticorruption affects employment are identified: the mitigation of expropriation risk and the alleviation of financing pressure. The employment effects are more pronounced in firms with higher labor costs, lower management fees, and those located in regions with weaker marketization. Moreover, the campaign can mitigate underhiring and its effects on employment will not come at the expense of compensation or firm profitability.

Suggested Citation

  • Xu, Xiangbing & Dong, Nanyan & Wu, Chengzhang & Luo, Sicheng, 2025. "The employment effects of anticorruption: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ememar:v:66:y:2025:i:c:s1566014125000391
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ememar.2025.101290
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1566014125000391
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ememar.2025.101290?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2005. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 231-266, February.
    2. Jinsong Liu & Qianwei Ying, 2019. "The decreasing value of non‐SOEs’ political connections during China’s anti‐corruption campaign: evidence and mechanism," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(5), pages 3171-3221, December.
    3. Ellis, Jesse & Smith, Jared & White, Roger, 2020. "Corruption and Corporate Innovation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(7), pages 2124-2149, November.
    4. Axel Dreher & Martin Gassebner, 2013. "Greasing the wheels? The impact of regulations and corruption on firm entry," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 413-432, June.
    5. Andreas Olden & Jarle Møen, 2022. "The triple difference estimator [Semiparametric difference-in-differences estimators]," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 25(3), pages 531-553.
    6. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    7. Lars Ljungqvist, 2002. "How Do Lay--off Costs Affect Employment?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 829-853, October.
    8. Oguzhan C. Dincer & Burak Gunalp, 2012. "Corruption And Income Inequality In The United States," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 30(2), pages 283-292, April.
    9. Arusha Cooray & Friedrich Schneider, 2016. "Does corruption promote emigration? An empirical examination," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 293-310, January.
    10. Han, Linsong & Li, Xun & Xu, Gang, 2022. "Anti-corruption and poverty alleviation: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 150-172.
    11. Lily Fang & Josh Lerner & Chaopeng Wu & Qi Zhang, 2023. "Anticorruption, Government Subsidies, and Innovation: Evidence from China," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4363-4388, August.
    12. Xu, Gang & Yano, Go, 2017. "How does anti-corruption affect corporate innovation? Evidence from recent anti-corruption efforts in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 498-519.
    13. Yang, Chih-Hai, 2022. "How Artificial Intelligence Technology Affects Productivity and Employment: Firm-level Evidence from Taiwan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    14. Wang, Feicheng & Milner, Chris & Scheffel, Juliane, 2021. "Labour market reform and firm-level employment adjustment: Evidence from the hukou reform in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    15. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    16. Demir, Firat & Hu, Chenghao & Liu, Junyi & Shen, Hewei, 2022. "Local corruption, total factor productivity and firm heterogeneity: Empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    17. Huang, Chenghao & Jin, Zhi & Tian, Siyang & Wu, Eliza, 2023. "The real effects of corruption on M&A flows: Evidence from China's anti-corruption campaign," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    18. Luck, Stephan & Zimmermann, Tom, 2020. "Employment effects of unconventional monetary policy: Evidence from QE," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(3), pages 678-703.
    19. Huang, Juan Juan & Shen, Yifeng & Sun, Qian, 2011. "Nonnegotiable shares, controlling shareholders, and dividend payments in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 122-133, February.
    20. Nan Li, 2021. "Do Majority‐of‐Minority Shareholder Voting Rights Reduce Expropriation? Evidence from Related Party Transactions," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 59(4), pages 1385-1423, September.
    21. Méon, Pierre-Guillaume & Weill, Laurent, 2010. "Is Corruption an Efficient Grease?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 244-259, March.
    22. Kong, Dongmin & Zhu, Ling & Wang, Xin, 2022. "Anti-corruption and CEO compensation: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    23. Chen, Yunling & Liu, Ming & Su, Jun, 2013. "Greasing the wheels of bank lending: Evidence from private firms in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2533-2545.
    24. Zhang, Peng, 2023. "Anti-corruption campaign, political connections, and court bias: Evidence from Chinese corporate lawsuits," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    25. Dal Bo, Ernesto & Rossi, Martin A., 2007. "Corruption and inefficiency: Theory and evidence from electric utilities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 939-962, June.
    26. Boochun Jung & Woo†Jong Lee & David P. Weber, 2014. "Financial Reporting Quality and Labor Investment Efficiency," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 1047-1076, December.
    27. Kurer, Oskar, 1993. "Clientelism, Corruption, and the Allocation of Resources," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 77(2), pages 259-273, October.
    28. Sanjeev Gupta & Hamid Davoodi & Rosa Alonso-Terme, 2002. "Does corruption affect income inequality and poverty?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 23-45, March.
    29. Arlette Beltrán, 2016. "Does corruption increase or decrease employment in firms?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 361-364, March.
    30. Luis R. Gómez‐Mejía & Maria J. Sanchez‐Bueno & Ivan Miroshnychenko & Robert M. Wiseman & Fernando Muñoz‐Bullón & Alfredo De Massis, 2024. "Family Control, Political Risk and Employment Security: A Cross‐National Study," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(6), pages 2338-2372, September.
    31. Michael Siemer, 2019. "Employment Effects of Financial Constraints during the Great Recession," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(1), pages 16-29, March.
    32. Xue, Fei & Chen, Qinyuan & Chan, Kam C. & Yi, Zhihong, 2022. "Is corporate social responsibility value relevant? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of anti-corruption campaign," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 520-532.
    33. Zhaoyang Gu & Song Tang & Donghui Wu, 2020. "The Political Economy of Labor Employment Decisions: Evidence from China," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4703-4725, October.
    34. Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Khalid Sekkat, 2005. "Does corruption grease or sand the wheels of growth?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 69-97, January.
    35. Hinh Khieu & Nam H. Nguyen & Hieu V. Phan & Jon A. Fulkerson, 2023. "Political Corruption and Corporate Risk-Taking," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 93-113, April.
    36. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    37. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    38. Vito Tanzi, 1998. "Corruption Around the World: Causes, Consequences, Scope, and Cures," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 45(4), pages 559-594, December.
    39. Theodora Bermpei & Antonios Nikolaos Kalyvas & Leone Leonida, 2021. "Local Public Corruption and Bank Lending Activity in the United States," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 73-98, June.
    40. Hongbin Cai & Hanming Fang & Lixin Colin Xu, 2011. "Eat, Drink, Firms, Government: An Investigation of Corruption from the Entertainment and Travel Costs of Chinese Firms," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(1), pages 55-78.
    41. Cao, Xiaping & Wang, Yuchen & Zhou, Sili, 2018. "Anti-corruption campaigns and corporate information release in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 186-203.
    42. Wenwu Cai & Xiaofeng Quan & Gary Gang Tian, 2023. "Local Corruption and Trade Credit: Evidence from an Emerging Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 563-594, July.
    43. Stefano Lucarelli & Klodian Muço & Enzo Valentini, 2024. "Short Run and Long Run Effects of Corruption on Economic Growth: Evidence from Balkan Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-27, April.
    44. Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, 2014. "The Employment Effects of Credit Market Disruptions: Firm-level Evidence from the 2008-9 Financial Crisis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 1-59.
    45. Jiang, Ting & Nie, Huihua, 2014. "The stained China miracle: Corruption, regulation, and firm performance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 366-369.
    46. Bruce C. Greenwald & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1986. "Externalities in Economies with Imperfect Information and Incomplete Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(2), pages 229-264.
    47. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    48. 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.
    49. John M. Griffin & Clark Liu & Tao Shu, 2022. "Is the Chinese Anticorruption Campaign Authentic? Evidence from Corporate Investigations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7248-7273, October.
    50. Mariassunta Giannetti & Guanmin Liao & Jiaxing You & Xiaoyun Yu, 2021. "The Externalities of Corruption: Evidence from Entrepreneurial Firms in China," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(3), pages 629-667.
    51. Paolo Mauro, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712.
    52. Maoyong Cheng & Yu Meng, 2023. "Anti-corruption Campaigns and Pay-performance Sensitivity: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(1), pages 192-217, January.
    53. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan & Zhang, Chengsi, 2022. "Tax enforcement and corporate employment: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    54. Nina Smith & Pierpaolo Parrotta, 2018. "Why so Few Women on Boards of Directors? Empirical Evidence from Danish Companies in 1998–2010," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 445-467, January.
    55. Mr. Vito Tanzi, 1998. "Corruption Around the World: Causes, Consequences, Scope, and Cures," IMF Working Papers 1998/063, International Monetary Fund.
    56. Chen, Shimin & Sun, Zheng & Tang, Song & Wu, Donghui, 2011. "Government intervention and investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 259-271, April.
    57. Qian, Ningyu, 2018. "Anti-corruption effects on the credit risk of local financing vehicles and the pricing of Chengtou bonds: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 162-168.
    58. Cooray, Arusha & Dzhumashev, Ratbek, 2018. "The effect of corruption on labour market outcomes," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 207-218.
    59. Cui, Chenyu & John, Kose & Pang, Jiaren & Wu, Haibin, 2018. "Employment protection and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from China's labor contract law," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 182-194.
    60. Cerqua, Augusto & Pellegrini, Guido, 2022. "Decomposing the employment effects of investment subsidies," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    61. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan & Ye, Yongwei & Zhang, Chengsi, 2021. "Collateral menus and corporate employment: Evidence from China's Property Law," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 686-709.
    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. Feng, Qianbin & Hu, Xiao & Deng, Xinyi & Lu, Jun, 2023. "Anti-corruption campaign and capacity utilization of state-owned enterprises: Evidence from China’s central committee inspection," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 319-346.
    2. Boubaker, Sabri & Liu, Pei-Zhi & Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun, 2024. "Do anti-corruption campaigns affect corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Auer Daniel & Römer Friederike & Tjaden Jasper, 2020. "Corruption and the Desire to Leave Quasi-Experimental Evidence on Corruption as a Driver of Emigration Intentions," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-31, January.
    4. Auer, Daniel & Römer, Friederike & Tjaden, Jasper, 2020. "Corruption and the Desire to Leave Quasi-Experimental Evidence on Corruption as a Driver of Emigration Intentions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 1-1.
    5. Haoyu Gao & Fukang Chen & Yiling Ouyang, 2024. "The impacts of political uncertainty on public financing costs: evidence from anti-corruption investigations in China," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 198(1), pages 69-91, January.
    6. Eugen Dimant & Guglielmo Tosato, 2018. "Causes And Effects Of Corruption: What Has Past Decade'S Empirical Research Taught Us? A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 335-356, April.
    7. Nguyen, Ngoc Anh & Doan, Quang Hung & Nguyen, Ngoc Minh & Tran-Nam, Binh, 2016. "The impact of petty corruption on firm innovation in Vietnam," MPRA Paper 71902, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Lu, Jiankun & Zhang, Hongsheng & Meng, Bo, 2021. "Corruption, firm productivity, and gains from import liberalization in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    9. repec:pdn:wpaper:79 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. repec:pdn:wpaper:70 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Demir, Firat & Hu, Chenghao & Liu, Junyi & Shen, Hewei, 2022. "Local corruption, total factor productivity and firm heterogeneity: Empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    12. Rahmouni, Mohieddine, 2023. "Corruption and corporate innovation in Tunisia during an economic downturn," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 314-326.
    13. Maria Kravtsova & Aleksey Oshchepkov, 2019. "Market And Network Corruption," HSE Working papers WP BRP 209/EC/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    14. Alfredo Monte & Luca Pennacchio, 2020. "Corruption, Government Expenditure and Public Debt in OECD Countries," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 62(4), pages 739-771, December.
    15. Cai, Weixing & Hu, Feng & Xu, Fangming & Zheng, Liyi, 2022. "Anti-corruption campaign and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    16. Han, Linsong & Li, Xun & Xu, Gang, 2022. "Anti-corruption and poverty alleviation: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 150-172.
    17. Gamze Kargin-Akkoc & Dilek Durusu-Ciftci, 2024. "The Interrelationship Between Corruption, Economic Growth, and Trade: Do They Grease or Sand Each Other’s Wheels?," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 22(4), pages 977-999, December.
    18. Fang, Xubing & Liu, Maotao, 2024. "Regional judicial capacity and corporate total factor productivity: Evidence from the establishment of circuit courts," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 465-489.
    19. Huang, Wendi & Peng, Ye, 2025. "Anti-corruption and corporate investment: Evidence from financial disclosure laws," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    20. Cooray, Arusha & Dzhumashev, Ratbek & Schneider, Friedrich, 2017. "How Does Corruption Affect Public Debt? An Empirical Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 115-127.
    21. Fhima, Fredj & Nouira, Ridha & Sekkat, Khalid, 2023. "How does corruption affect sustainable development? A threshold non-linear analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 505-523.
    22. Parsons, Brandon, 2025. "Unpacking corruption: The role of economic freedom in developing countries," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • P30 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - General

    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:eee:ememar:v:66:y:2025:i:c:s1566014125000391. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620356 .

    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.