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Journal of Chinese Political Science

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24-08-2023 | Research Article

Official Turnover and Sustainable Development in China

Authors: Xing Li, Chunkai Zhao, Jianhua Cao

Published in: Journal of Chinese Political Science

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Abstract

Achieving sustainable development is an important goal for China’s economic transformation to high-quality development. Using the city-year panel data and constructing a green total factor productivity (GTFP) indicator, we implement the idea of an “event study” to explore the impact of official turnover on sustainable development in China. The results, supported by a series of robustness tests, show that official turnover significantly contributes to sustainable development. Furthermore, official turnover mainly promotes sustainable development through the deterrent effect and reducing government construction investment; the turnover of highly educated, local, promoted, and experienced officials could better promote sustainable development. These findings shed new light on the determinants of sustainable development and suggest that local official turnover plays an important role in China’s high-quality development.

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Footnotes
1
In the case of controlling for the year-FE, the time trend term cannot be estimated due to the full collinearity. Therefore, here we do not add the year-FE.
 
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Metadata
Title
Official Turnover and Sustainable Development in China
Authors
Xing Li
Chunkai Zhao
Jianhua Cao
Publication date
24-08-2023
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Journal of Chinese Political Science
Print ISSN: 1080-6954
Electronic ISSN: 1874-6357
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-023-09864-0