What motivates non-democratic leadership: Evidence from COVID-19 reopenings in China

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fisman, Raymond; Lin, Hui; Sun, Cong; Wang, Yongxiang; Zhao, Daxuan
• 署名单位: Boston University; Nanjing University; Shanghai University of Finance & Economics; The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen; Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Renmin University of China
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104389
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: Bureaucratic incentives; Unrest; Non-democracy; CHINA; Covid-19

摘要

We examine Chinese cities' COVID-19 reopening plans as a window into governments' economic and social priorities. We measure reopenings based on official government news announcements, and show that these are predicted by citizen discontent, as captured by Baidu searches for terms such as unemployment and protest in the prior week. The effects are particularly strong early in the epidemic, indicating a priority on initiating economic recovery as early as possible. These results indicate that even a non-democratic government may respond to citizen concerns, possibly to minimize dissent. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.