The institutionalization of private property rights promotes economic development. Political corruption, it is widely held, retards development. During its reform and opening up period, China did not recognize property rights, became increasingly corrupt, yet broke world growth records. We...

The article explores how citizens may bargain for distribution in strong authoritarian regimes. Combining in-depth case study and the survey experiment approach, it finds that regimes’ pursuit of certain political priorities may enable unlawful bargaining, an increasingly popular form of...