Do political connections still pay after the anti-corruption campaign?
Political connections are a large topic across the finance, economics and management journals, and a rising one in management. Yet only 10 of 106 recent papers on them carry a corruption keyword. More than a decade after China's anti-corruption campaign began, are connections still worth anything, and to whom?
What prompted this
In the management journals, "political connections" had 8 papers in July–September 2026 against about 4 expected (see the management dashboard). Since October 2025, 106 papers carry a political-connection keyword (46 in finance journals, 28 in economics, 23 in management, 8 in accounting). Only 10 of them carry an anti-corruption or corruption keyword, and "anti-corruption campaign" appears on 16 papers in all.
Questions
- Did the value of connections, measured by stock reactions to officials' promotions or downfalls, fall after 2012, and has it recovered?
- Did firms swap personal ties for other channels, such as hiring retired officials as directors?
- Do connections still help with bank loans and subsidies, or mainly with avoiding scrutiny?
Data that could help
Biographies of officials and executives (CSMAR executive data, CNRDS), the dates of announced investigations, and the bank loans and subsidies of listed firms.
Next step
Build an event list of investigations of provincial officials since 2013 and measure the stock reactions of firms whose executives had ties to them.