Sectoral work experience of provincial leaders and local public expenditure in China

ABSTRACT

How the sectoral work experience of local leaders affects local public expenditure is underexplored. Using a unique panel dataset on the work experience of secretaries of the provincial party committee (SPPCs) and governors of provinces (GPs) in China, this study empirically analyses how the work experience of provincial leaders in the agricultural sector affects agricultural public expenditure. The results show that the work experience of SPPCs in the agricultural sector significantly raises agricultural public expenditure, while the work experience of GPs in the agricultural sector shows no such effect. In addition, there is a positive relationship between the tenure of SPPCs in the agricultural sector and agricultural public expenditure. Moreover, this study reveals that SPPCs with work experience in the agricultural departments of the central government will increase agricultural public expenditure to a greater extent than SPPCs with work experience in the agricultural departments of local governments. Furthermore, the positive work experience of SPPCs in the agricultural sector on agricultural public expenditure is because such experience shapes their intrinsic preferences for agricultural affairs. This study enhances the understanding of how the sectoral work experience of local leaders affects local public expenditure in developing countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Public expenditure
• work experience
• local leader
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. The proportions of secretaries of the provincial party committee (SPPCs) and governors of provinces (GPs) who have work experience in the agricultural sector are 18.7% and 15.5%, respectively (see Table 1).

2. Public expenditure in agriculture includes planting, animal husbandry, fishery, veterinary medicine, agricultural machinery, agricultural reclamation, farming, agricultural industrialization management organizations, and rural and reclamation area public welfare. For more details, see http://yss.mof.gov.cn/zhuantilanmu/ggwd/200902/t20090223_115892.html.

3. Zhiqing refers to urban youth during the Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, many of whom were sent to mountainous areas or farming villages to learn from the workers and farmers there.

4. During the planned economy, a production brigade was equivalent to a village nowadays and a commune was equivalent to a township.

5. In addition to public expenditure on social spending, infrastructure construction, and public services, other types of public expenditure include that on financial supervision, post-earthquake reconstruction, land and resources, and meteorology. These public expenditure categories account for a relatively small proportion of total public expenditure. When considering this public expenditure, the coefficients of SPPC are not significant either.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the the National Natural Science Foundation of China [71903064].

Notes on contributors

Wei Wan

Wei Wan is an Assistant Professor at the School of School of Economics and Business Administration, Central China Normal University. His research interests include economics of regulation and public policy in China. His papers have been published international journals such as Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

Shenghua Xie

Shenghua Xie is an Associate Professor at School of Public Administration, Central China Normal University. His research interests include local government studies and urban governance. His papers have been published international journals such as Urban Studies and Cities.