Neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy: Evidence from China

Fiscal mimicking and yardstick competition among neighbouring jurisdictions have been widely documented in developed countries with long histories of democracy. However, there is very little empirical evidence concerning these practices in developing countries with young democracies. Using a primary...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Agostini, Claudio A., Brown, Philip, Zhang, Xiaobo
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Wiley 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148045
_version_ 1855539201700790272
author Agostini, Claudio A.
Brown, Philip
Zhang, Xiaobo
author_browse Agostini, Claudio A.
Brown, Philip
Zhang, Xiaobo
author_facet Agostini, Claudio A.
Brown, Philip
Zhang, Xiaobo
author_sort Agostini, Claudio A.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Fiscal mimicking and yardstick competition among neighbouring jurisdictions have been widely documented in developed countries with long histories of democracy. However, there is very little empirical evidence concerning these practices in developing countries with young democracies. Using a primary panel of 86 rural Chinese administrative villages that have undergone transitions to democracy over the past two decades, we show that the neighbourhood effect also exists in a young democracy, albeit at a lower magnitude than in a mature democracy. Elected chairs of village committees who have served more than one term respond positively to the provision of public projects in neighbouring villages by increasing both the number of public projects and the funding allocated to undertake them. In contrast, appointed party secretaries with more than 1 year of service are insensitive to neighbours' performance. In addition, village leaders are strategic in timing the arrival of public projects to increase the probability of re‐election: in the year preceding elections, both the number and budget of public projects increase significantly. In this sense, politicians in young and old democracies behave alike.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace148045
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Wiley
publisherStr Wiley
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1480452024-10-25T08:05:14Z Neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy: Evidence from China Agostini, Claudio A. Brown, Philip Zhang, Xiaobo public goods investment democracy Fiscal mimicking and yardstick competition among neighbouring jurisdictions have been widely documented in developed countries with long histories of democracy. However, there is very little empirical evidence concerning these practices in developing countries with young democracies. Using a primary panel of 86 rural Chinese administrative villages that have undergone transitions to democracy over the past two decades, we show that the neighbourhood effect also exists in a young democracy, albeit at a lower magnitude than in a mature democracy. Elected chairs of village committees who have served more than one term respond positively to the provision of public projects in neighbouring villages by increasing both the number of public projects and the funding allocated to undertake them. In contrast, appointed party secretaries with more than 1 year of service are insensitive to neighbours' performance. In addition, village leaders are strategic in timing the arrival of public projects to increase the probability of re‐election: in the year preceding elections, both the number and budget of public projects increase significantly. In this sense, politicians in young and old democracies behave alike. 2016-03-25 2024-06-21T09:23:43Z 2024-06-21T09:23:43Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148045 en Wiley Agostini, Claudio A.; Brown, Philip; and Zhang, Xiaobo. 2016. Neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy: Evidence from China. Pacific Economic Review 21(1): 13 -31.
spellingShingle public goods
investment
democracy
Agostini, Claudio A.
Brown, Philip
Zhang, Xiaobo
Neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy: Evidence from China
title Neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy: Evidence from China
title_full Neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy: Evidence from China
title_fullStr Neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy: Evidence from China
title_full_unstemmed Neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy: Evidence from China
title_short Neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy: Evidence from China
title_sort neighbour effects in the provision of public goods in a young democracy evidence from china
topic public goods
investment
democracy
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148045
work_keys_str_mv AT agostiniclaudioa neighboureffectsintheprovisionofpublicgoodsinayoungdemocracyevidencefromchina
AT brownphilip neighboureffectsintheprovisionofpublicgoodsinayoungdemocracyevidencefromchina
AT zhangxiaobo neighboureffectsintheprovisionofpublicgoodsinayoungdemocracyevidencefromchina