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The anti-corruption campaign and the intergenerational transmission of bureaucratic employment: Evidence from China

Author

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  • Chen, Shuai
  • Ge, Erqi

Abstract

Inequality in bureaucratic employment, favoring individuals from bureaucratic family backgrounds, is widespread. Using China’s recent anti-corruption campaign as a quasi-experiment, we examine how intensified counter-corruption efforts reshape intergenerational occupational transmission within the public sector. Employing a difference-in-differences approach, we compare changes in the likelihood of bureaucratic employment for children of bureaucrats versus non-bureaucrats before and after the campaign implementation across provinces. Prior to the campaign, offspring of bureaucrats were over 13 percentage points more likely to work in the bureaucracy; following the campaign, this advantage diminished by more than 5 percentage points. Further analyses suggest that relatively better outside options for bureaucrats’ children serve as a mechanism, while alternative explanations, such as asymmetric insider information, shifts in risk preferences, or changes in perceptions of bureaucracy, are not supported by the data. Our findings highlight how anti-corruption initiatives can reduce entrenched dynastic privileges and promote greater equality of opportunity within public institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Shuai & Ge, Erqi, 2026. "The anti-corruption campaign and the intergenerational transmission of bureaucratic employment: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:248:y:2026:i:c:s0167268126002246
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2026.107638
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • P35 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Public Finance
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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