The economics of communist party membership: The curious case of rising numbers and wage premium during China's transition

Simon Appleton; John Knight; Lina Song; Qingjie Xia

doi:10.1080/00220380802264739

The economics of communist party membership: The curious case of rising numbers and wage premium during China's transition

Simon Appleton
, John Knight
, Lina Song
, Qingjie Xia

Research output: Journal Publication › Article › peer-review

65 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

As the Chinese Communist Party has loosened its grip in a more market-oriented economy, why have membership and the economic benefits of joining risen? We use three national household surveys over 11 years to answer this question for wages in urban China. Individual demand for Party membership is treated as an investment in 'political capital' that brings monetary rewards in terms of a wage premium that has risen in recent years. However, this does not explain why the wage premium is higher for the personal characteristics that reduce the probability of membership. Rationing with a scarcity value for members with those characteristics provides an explanation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	256-275
Number of pages	20
Journal	Journal of Development Studies
Volume	45
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00220380802264739
Publication status	Published - 2009
Externally published	Yes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Development

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10.1080/00220380802264739

Cite this

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abstract = "As the Chinese Communist Party has loosened its grip in a more market-oriented economy, why have membership and the economic benefits of joining risen? We use three national household surveys over 11 years to answer this question for wages in urban China. Individual demand for Party membership is treated as an investment in 'political capital' that brings monetary rewards in terms of a wage premium that has risen in recent years. However, this does not explain why the wage premium is higher for the personal characteristics that reduce the probability of membership. Rationing with a scarcity value for members with those characteristics provides an explanation.",

author = "Simon Appleton and John Knight and Lina Song and Qingjie Xia",

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AU - Appleton, Simon

AU - Knight, John

AU - Song, Lina

AU - Xia, Qingjie

N1 - Funding Information: The authors are grateful for research support from the CCK Foundation and DfID (under ESCOR grant R7526) and for supporting the research and for comments received from referees, and from seminars and conferences at CERDI-CNRS, Université d’Auvergne, and the Universities of Gothenburg, Nottingham and Oxford.

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N2 - As the Chinese Communist Party has loosened its grip in a more market-oriented economy, why have membership and the economic benefits of joining risen? We use three national household surveys over 11 years to answer this question for wages in urban China. Individual demand for Party membership is treated as an investment in 'political capital' that brings monetary rewards in terms of a wage premium that has risen in recent years. However, this does not explain why the wage premium is higher for the personal characteristics that reduce the probability of membership. Rationing with a scarcity value for members with those characteristics provides an explanation.

AB - As the Chinese Communist Party has loosened its grip in a more market-oriented economy, why have membership and the economic benefits of joining risen? We use three national household surveys over 11 years to answer this question for wages in urban China. Individual demand for Party membership is treated as an investment in 'political capital' that brings monetary rewards in terms of a wage premium that has risen in recent years. However, this does not explain why the wage premium is higher for the personal characteristics that reduce the probability of membership. Rationing with a scarcity value for members with those characteristics provides an explanation.

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ER -

The economics of communist party membership: The curious case of rising numbers and wage premium during China's transition

Abstract

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