China

Politics of China

Tai, Yuehong, Jielu Yao, and Elise Pizzi. 2022. "Policy Adoption and Diffusion during the COVID-19 Crisis" Journal of Asian Public Policy.

In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, what explains the variation in policy adoption choices among Chinese provincial governments? To answer this question, we gathered new adoption data on twenty-five policies used to contain COVID-19 in China from December 31, 2019, to March 18, 2020. We also conducted state-of-the-art multilevel pooled event history analysis to allow us to control for policy heterogeneity. Our results demonstrate that variation in policy adoption during the crisis largely follows politics as usual: policies diffuse from the center to the provinces in the same way that non-crisis policies diffuse. In addition, the characteristics of provincial leaders shape the pace of policy adoption. Our findings highlight the political dynamics of policy adoption and crisis response within China.

Pizzi, Elise and Wenfang Tang. 2021. "Political Action by Ethnic Minorities in China." Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.

How does ethnic identity affect political action in nondemocratic countries? While protest is often used to express dissatisfaction and demand government response in China, the risks associated with public demonstrations are higher for minority groups. In addition, government institutions are designed to be more responsive to minority needs. To explore the channels of state engagement for different ethnic groups, we draw on a new dataset of the preferred political activities among 8,000 individuals in China, including more than 1,500 ethnic minorities. Overall, we find that minorities are more likely than Han to prefer resolving issues through government institutions. In addition, Uyghurs and Tibetans are very unlikely to protest or to take no action when faced with a problem. Our results demonstrate that ethnic minorities choose less confrontational and more institutionalized methods for political activity than the Han majority.

Elise Pizzi and Hu Yue. 2022. "How Does Government Policy Shape Migration Decisions? The Case of China's Hukou System." Modern China.

In the last 30 years, migration and urbanization have transformed China. Chinese cities use the household registration (‘hukou’) to adjust the barriers to gaining local status and access to public service benefits in an effort to shape migration patterns. To what extent do hukou policies shape decisions about migration destinations? We draw on a nationally representative survey of migrants and an original survey experiment to test the effect of hukou barriers and benefits on the relative appeal of different destination cities. We find that strict limits on local hukou status do not deter labor migrants. However, local hukou status is important for migrants because of the public benefits it confers. When migrants can gain access to public services without changing their hukou status, cities boost their appeal. These findings demonstrate that hukou policy has real impact on migration patterns and on access to public benefits for millions of Chinese.

Hu Yue and Elise Pizzi. 2022. "Breaking through the Linguistic Barrier: A Study of Government Policy and Barriers to Migration." China: An International Journal.

Why do migrants choose some destinations over others? This study explores the influence of language on migrant preferences. We argue that migrants prefer to move to regions where the difference in vernacular languages is smaller because of both communicative and cultural considerations. Governments can use language policies to help migrants cross over the language barrier for communication but not culturally. We examined these arguments with survey experiments and econometric analyses of national representative data of China. The empirical evidence supports our arguments even after controlling for the economic and institutional motivations, and uncovers the non-linear effect of proficiency in the language promoted by government policy. The findings have far-reaching implications of understanding the migration decision-making process and the role of language policy in shaping national integration and population dynamics.

Pizzi, Elise. 2021. "Labor Migration and Rural Development in China." in The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Studies. Chris Shei and Weixiao Wei, eds.

Pizzi, Elise. 2020. "Ethnicity and Government Provision of Drinking Water Infrastructure in Rural China." Asian Survey.

What areas does the Chinese government prioritize for building new drinking water provision infrastructure? Chinese policy favors ethnic minorities and minority autonomous regions due to concerns about inequality and potential instability. However, the implementation of policy does not always reflect the pro-minority government policies. Drawing on a new dataset of more than 10,000 drinking water projects in rural Guizhou Province, I explore how ethnicity and autonomy influence the implementation of public goods provision policy in an authoritarian context. I argue that drinking water facilities are more likely to be built in majority Han areas because implementation and project completion is easier for officials. This study finds that the Chinese government provides drinking water infrastructure at a higher rate to areas where the minority population is smaller. This result indicates that implementation concerns trump policy design when it comes to drinking water infrastructure. The findings have implications for ethnic politics and public goods provision and for the implementation of policy in non-democratic contexts. In addition, these findings demonstrate why regions with larger minority populations are often slower to develop and improve access to basic public services.

Pizzi, Elise. 2018. “Does Labor Migration Improve Access to Public Goods in Source Communities? Evidence from Rural China.” Journal of Chinese Political Science. [online]

What is the effect of out-migration on drinking water provision in rural China? Despite concerns about the ability of migrants to contribute to collective action for public goods provision, this study demonstrates that villages with higher rates of labor migration are more likely to have public drinking water than those with little migration. Temporary labor migration reduces isolation and increases the connections outside the village. Funding organizations favor villages where they have contacts as well as villages that they perceive as in need of support because most working-age adults are working outside the village. As a result, villages with high rates of out-migration are more likely have public access to drinking water. The findings are based on data from a survey of more than 50 natural villages in two townships of Southwest China.