2015/04/23 by Yiqing Xu, YIQING XU, Yang Yao +1 · 273 citations
Social Sciences · #Action (physics) #Bureaucracy #Business #China #China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance #Clan #Collective action #Corporate governance #Culture, Economy, and Development Studies #Democracy #Economic growth #Economic system #Economics #Finance #Investment (military) #Microeconomics #Political science #Public good #Social Capital and Networks
paper · doi:10.1017/s0003055415000155
published in American Political Science Review 109(2), 371-391 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 2015/04/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Do informal institutions, rules, and norms created and enforced by social groups promote good local governance in environments of weak democratic or bureaucratic institutions? This question is difficult to answer because of challenges in defining and measuring informal institutions and identifying their causal effects. In the article, we investigate the effect of lineage groups, one of the most important vehicles of informal institutions in rural China, on local public goods expenditure. Using a panel dataset of 220 Chinese villages from 1986 to 2005, we find that village leaders from the two largest family clans in a village increased local public investment considerably. This association is stronger when the clans appeared to be more cohesive. We also find that clans helped local leaders overcome the collective action problem of financing public goods, but there is little evidence suggesting that they held local leaders accountable.