Horizontal Networks and Economic Performance: Evidence from City Leaders in China

Danglun Luo, Congcong Liu and Lifan Wu

Social Science Quarterly, 2020, vol. 101, issue 4, 1359-1373

Abstract: Objectives We examine political connections at the horizontal level of local government officials and their impacts on economic growth in China. Methods We identify two types of horizontal networks: hometown tie and alumni tie, and analyze the biographic data of the top officials of 256 prefecture‐cities during the period of 1999–2013. Results We find a positive relationship between city leaders’ hometown tie and economic growth, measured by either the relative GDP per capita growth rate or the GDP per capita growth rate. Furthermore, we find the positive relationship is more profound in the low market‐open cities. However, we do not find any significant impacts of the alumni tie on economic growth. Conclusions The hometown tie improves the city leaders’ economic performance.

Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12816

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:101:y:2020:i:4:p:1359-1373

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0038-4941

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry

More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().