The logic of anticorruption enforcement campaigns in contemporary China

In: Journal of contemporary China, Band 16, Heft 50, S. 65-78

Abstract

Corruption is endemic and pervasive in contemporary China, yet serious attempts at anticorruption enforcement have been periodic in nature, What explains the timing of anticorruption campaigns? Available data, from 1981 to 1997, suggest a plausible correlation between changes in macroeconomic policy and the intensification of anticorruption enforcement. Four major anticorruption campaigns - in 1982, 1986, 1989 and 1993 - coincided with the end of an inflationary peak and the beginning of a macroeconomic austerity period. This article establishes a causal link between anticorruption campaigns and economic austerity rounds, proposing that the aforementioned anticorruption campaigns have been used priarily to combat economic overheating and not corruption itself. That is, during the era of reform, anticorruption enforcement campaigns have functioned as a viable mechanism for reducing over-investment and in so doing, decreasing inflation. (J Contemp China/GIGA)