Events

This paper examines whether the massive Chinese anti-corruption campaign is ensnaring corrupt firms, contains a political component, and is reducing corporate corruption. Consistent with the campaign’s stated objectives, Chinese firms with characteristics commonly associated with measures of poor governance, self-dealing, and inefficiencies are more likely to have executives investigated. However, affiliations with prominent investigated political leaders increase investigation likelihood and executives with connections to top current central leadership are less likely to be investigated, possibly indicating political favoritism. Over time, except for reported entertainment expenditures, there has been little overall decreases in measures of potential corporate corruption.