Accountable to mass publics or local feudal lords? Testing ‘succession connection’ in China's political business cycle

[[abstract]]Measured by the growth rates of either fixed asset investment or gross domestic production (GDP), we have witnessed a persistent correlation between cyclical economic booms and periodical administration changes in post-Mao China. By examining the exact causal relations between succession, accountability, and economic policymakers behind this political business, this paper finds that, although the institutional constraints of political succession could be clearly observed through reform China, the Chinese central leaders are not found to be held accountable by mass publics. They are at best periodically accountable to the most powerful political elite within the bureaucratic system, i.e. Chinese provincial officials.[[fileno]]2040616030003[[department]]社會學研究