How does anti-corruption affect firm labour inputs? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impact of anti-corruption on firm labour inputs. Using the province-by-province rollout of the central inspection team campaign in China, we find that the labour intensity rises by 9% in the firms located in the provinces inspected by the central inspection teams. Moreover, firms with low corruption are more susceptible to the policy shock.

KEYWORDS:

• Corruption
• firm labour inputs
• China
• quasi-natural experiment

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• D73
• D22
• O12

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Evaluating the effects of CITC appeals scholars. Kong, Wang, and Wang (2017) find that it increases central state-owned enterprises’ performances, but decreases non-state-owned enterprises’ performances. Qian (Forthcoming) shows that it decreases local financing vehicles’ earnings and finds that credit risk mispricing occurs in Chengtou bond market.

² Chongqing, Hubei, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Inner Mongolia constitute the former five regions. Whereas, Shanghai, Tibet, Sichuan, Guangxi, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Zhejiang, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Jiangsu represent the latter 10 regions.

³ Only the mean Lev for treatment and control groups are significantly different for each other.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [71703047] and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2017M610466 and 2018T110748] .