This study takes advantage of a “natural experiment” to show how changes in political institutions shape politicians’ incentives, and in turn affect important policy outcomes in China. Beijing introduced the mandatory retirement age for provincial leaders in the 1980s, but it did not fully...

Motivating subnational politicians to provide social welfare is an important issue for developing and transition economies that lack democratic accountability. Based on quantitative data and in-depth case study on China, I find that there is a mechanism of top-down accountability in...

This study takes advantage of a “natural experiment” to show how changes in political institutions shape politicians’ incentives, and in turn affect important policy outcomes in China. Beijing introduced the mandatory retirement age for provincial leaders in the 1980s, but it did not fully...