We solve an optimal land sale problem for a mayor who sells public land and uses the land sale revenue to finance infrastructure. Over an infinite horizon the mayor chooses land sale and infrastructure in each period to maximize the market value of the city net of the spending on infrastructure....

We develop an economic model that explains historical data on government corruption in Ming and Qing China. In our model, officials extensive powers result in corrupt income matching lands share in output. We estimate corrupt income to be between 14 to 22 times official income resulting in about...