Rent Seeking in China Routledge Contemporary China Series

In China, rent seeking has been linked to the idea of the local developmental state in which rapid economic development is explained in terms of the promotion of village and township enterprises by local cadres who wants to maximize revenue. At the same time, the rent-seeking state is also seen as the root of corrupt practices and in the creation of a political market where state assets and authorities are diverted into private interests.

Despite the prevalence of rent seeking practices in present day China, no systematic study of the phenomenon across different regions and economic sectors has yet been undertaken and as such what accounts for the occurrence of the phenomenon, what range of activities are related to rent seeking practices and, more importantly, how rent seeking shapes political and economic development are barely understood. Rent Seeking in China seeks to address these questions using case studies from across economics sectors including primary industry, strategic industry, heavy industry, and light industry. It will be invaluable reading for students and scholars of Chinese politics, comparative politics and Chinese economic and business management.

1. The Politics of Rent Production2. Rent Seeking, Corruption, and Clientelism3. Transition from Surplus Seeking to Rent Seeking 4. The Institutional Context of Rent Seeking in Economic Transition5. Local State Takeover as Multiple Rent Seeking in Private Business 6. Rents and Rent Seeking in the Coal Industry7. Powering Rent Seeking in the Electricity Industry8. Rent Allocation and Industrial Policy Efficacy in the Steel Industry9. Rent Production and Industrial Governance in the Auto Industry10. Rent Seeking and the Development of the Beer Industry 11. Rents, Mergers, and Acquisitions in the Automotive and Beer Industries12. Rent Seeking, Corruption, and Local Finance in Historical Perspective13. The Chinese Mode of Rent Utilization in Comparative Perspective

Tak-Wing Ngo teaches Chinese politics at Leiden University and is concurrently IIAS Professor of Asian History at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Yongping Wu is Professor and Deputy Dean of the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, China.