RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Leader Networks and Interjurisdictional Contracting in Land Conversion Quotas
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 062321-0072R1
DO 10.3368/le.100.3.040120-0046R1
A1 Chau, Nancy H.
A1 Qin, Yu
A1 Zhang, Weiwen
YR 2023
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/12/11/le.100.3.040120-0046R1.abstract
AB Do network connections between government officials and administrative units facilitate efficient land use contracting across jurisdictions? This paper leverages data from a ground-breaking policy in China where a strict quota-bound land use policy was replaced by an alternative permitting between-county trade in land conversion quotas. We unpack the determinants of the boundary between trading and autarkic jurisdictions, and unveil leader-related drivers of transaction costs between jurisdictions in a gravity-style estimation. We catalogue entire personal and career histories of county-level leaders, and present evidence that leader networks derived from employment history are robustly trade facilitating but non-workplace links are not.