This study examines how the economic effects of elections in rural China depend on voter heterogeneity, for which we proxy with religious fractionalization. We first document religious composition and the introduction of village-level elections for a nearly nationally representative sample of...

Drawing on the Law & Religious Market theory, this Chapter utilizes the case study of China to explain 1) how regulation of ostensibly non-economically motivated activities (i.e., religion and charity) can be properly conceived as a form of market regulation; and, 2) how such a conception can...