Do China's anti-corruption campaigns impact art prices? Evidence from Chinese art market

Timothy Yang Bian, Yue Zhang and Nanxing Zhou

Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 2025, vol. 90, issue C

Abstract: China's recent anti-corruption campaign has raised concerns about its potential impact on the Chinese art market, given the widespread use of artworks as implicit bribes. Using a large auction dataset for traditional Chinese paintings, we examine whether anti-corruption measures have caused a decline in art prices. We use the number of high-ranking officials (vice-ministerial level or higher) under anti-corruption investigation as a proxy for the intensity of such measures. Our results show a statistically significant negative impact: for each additional downfall of a high-ranking official in a region, auction prices for Chinese paintings decrease by 5.5 %. The negative effect is more evident for paintings drawn by non-masters and those with lower prices.

Keywords: Elegant bribery; Anti-corruption; Art price; Chinese art market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D44 D73 Z11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:90:y:2025:i:c:s0927538x25000174

DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2025.102680

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