DP15226 Factions in Nondemocracies: Theory and Evidence from the Chinese Communist Party

Author(s):	Patrick Francois, Francesco Trebbi, Kairong Xiao
Publication Date:	August 2020
Keyword(s):	China, Chinese Communist Party, Factions, political economy, Single Party Regime
JEL(s):	P3, P48
Programme Areas:	Public Economics, Development Economics
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=15226

This paper investigates, theoretically and empirically, factional arrangements within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the governing political party of the People's Republic of China. Using detailed biographical information of political elites in the Central Committee and provincial governments, we present a set of new empirical regularities within the CCP, including systematic patterns of cross-factional balancing at different levels of the political hierarchy and substantial faction premia in promotions. We propose and estimate an organizational economic model to characterize factional politics within single-party nondemocratic regimes.