We investigate political budget cycles in China. To do so, we exploit cross-province variation in the timing of the Congress of the Communist Party, the most significant event in terms of promoting and re-appointing prefecture leaders. We find strong evidence of a cycle, with an acceleration in...

This paper studies the political budget cycles of provincial governments in China and explores the channels that drive such cycles. It finds that in addition to good economic performance, being clean (or staying away from corruption) is an important factor in provincial leaders' chances of...