The Department of Economics Applied Microeconomics and THD Seminar Series and Center for Economics and Public Policy present

"The Institutional Origins of Elite Collusion in China Since Tiananmen"
with Professor Minxin Pei, Claremont McKenna College

November 12, 2014
3:30-5:00 p.m.
Social Science Plaza A, Room 2112

The hallmark of crony capitalism is collusion among elites. This phenomenon was non-existent in China prior to the 1990s but has become prevalent since. This talk explores changes in property rights and argues that these changes, instituted after the Tianamen crackdown in 1989, have created an institutional environment most conducive to collusion among elites. The result is looting of nominally state-owned property by elites, including bosses of organized crime. Evidence supporting this thesis can be found in exposed corruption cases involving multiple officials. The consequence of elite collusion is not only the rise of crony capitalism, but also the decay of the key institutions of the Chinese party-state because of the dynamic of “bad money driving out good money."