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Political determinants of intergovernmental transfers in a regionally decentralized authoritarian regime: evidence from China

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  • Xin Wan
  • Yuanyuan Ma
  • Kezhong Zhang

Abstract

This article examines the political determinants of the allocation of intergovernmental transfers in the context of China. In a regionally decentralized authoritarian regime, a government marked by political centralization and fiscal decentralization, intergovernmental transfers are employed by politicians as instruments to achieve political goals. Using China's provincial data from 1994 to 2009, we find that the officials' political power is an important factor in the distribution process. A party secretary's replacement facilitates an increase in transfers, especially if the replacement comes from the central government. If a party secretary is a member of the Central Politburo, the province receives more conditional transfers than others. The central government allocates the transfers in such a way that the province with a high proportion of the minority population receives more transfers than others.

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  • Xin Wan & Yuanyuan Ma & Kezhong Zhang, 2015. "Political determinants of intergovernmental transfers in a regionally decentralized authoritarian regime: evidence from China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(27), pages 2803-2820, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:47:y:2015:i:27:p:2803-2820
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2015.1008768
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    3. Ilya A. Vaskin, 2020. "Buying Loyalty Of Voters Or Local Elites? Political Alignment And Transfers To Provinces In Tutelary Regimes: The Case Of Iran," HSE Working papers WP BRP 73/PS/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Elvina Merkaj & Riccardo Lucchetti & Fabio Fiorillo, 2017. "Winning Competitive Grants For Regional Development in Albania: The Role of Local Leaders," Working Papers 422, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    5. Chen, Xiude & Qin, Quande & Wei, Y.-M., 2016. "Energy productivity and Chinese local officials’ promotions: Evidence from provincial governors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 103-112.
    6. Yannis Psycharis & Stavroula Iliopoulou & Maria Zoi & Panagiotis Pantazis, 2021. "Beyond the socio‐economic use of fiscal transfers: The role of political factors in Greek intergovernmental grant allocations," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 982-1008, June.
    7. Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Shasha & Xiang, Junyi, 2018. "Political promotion and labor investment efficiency," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 273-293.

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