Early-life experience and political leaders' policy preference: Evidence from China's Zhiqing officials

被引:1
作者
Zhao, Renjie [1 ]
Zhong, Shihu [2 ]
Chen, Jie [3 ,4 ]
机构
[1] Northwest Univ, Sch Econ & Management, Xian 710127, Peoples R China
[2] Shanghai Natl Accounting Inst, Shanghai 201799, Peoples R China
[3] Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ SJTU, Sch Int & Publ Affairs SIPA, Shanghai 200030, Peoples R China
[4] Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ SJTU, China Inst Urban Governance CIUG, Shanghai 200030, Peoples R China
基金
中国国家自然科学基金;
关键词
Political leader; Political preference; Zhiqing; Send-down movement; China; SENT-DOWN YOUTH; HELP EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY; LIVING STANDARD GUARANTEE; CULTURAL-REVOLUTION; ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT; UPPER ECHELONS; SPECIAL-ISSUE; CHILDHOOD; MOVEMENT; WELFARE;
D O I
10.1016/j.leaqua.2024.101796
中图分类号
B849 [应用心理学];
学科分类号
040203 ;
摘要
By exploiting both the unique institutional setting of the Chinese political system and the quasi-experimental features of a massive nationwide rural rustication movement in China during the 1960-1970s, this paper explores the relationship between leaders' early-life experiences and their policy preferences. Based on a unique panel data set of 318 regional units from 2003 to 2012, we find that those units are associated with more generous rural welfare programs when governed by zhiqing leaders, who experienced rural rustication during their early adulthood. We further find that this association becomes stronger when leaders spent more time in rustication or rusticated in places that were much worse developmentally than their hometowns. These findings remain consistent after applying various robustness checks and accounting for possible selection biases. We interpret these findings as evidence showing that emotional attachment, cognitive sympathy, deservedness justification and self-efficacy accrued through shared life experiences during the sensitive years of adolescence could have lasting effects in configuring leaders' late policy preferences when they come into power. Our findings lend support to the argument that a leader's early-life experience provides useful information to predict this leader's policy styles.
引用
收藏
页数:24
相关论文
共 50 条
[31]   Prevalence and early-life determinants of mid-life multimorbidity: evidence from the 1970 British birth cohort [J].
Gondek, Dawid ;
Bann, David ;
Brown, Matt ;
Hamer, Mark ;
Sullivan, Alice ;
Ploubidis, George B. .
BMC PUBLIC HEALTH, 2021, 21 (01)
[32]   Proactive versus passive product recall: Does a CEO's early-life disaster experience matter? [J].
Liu, Yang ;
Jiang, Yizhou ;
Li, Tianqiong ;
Shao, Qianwen .
ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, 2024,
[33]   Early-life exposure to Saharan dust storms and adolescence functional disability: Evidence from Cameroon [J].
Karimi, Seyed M. ;
Mostafavi-Dehzooei, Mohammad ;
Asadi, Ghadir ;
Jacobs, Claire ;
Majbouri, Mahdi .
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, 2023, 858
[34]   Directors' prior life experience and corporate donations: Evidence from China [J].
Su, Zhong-qin ;
Xu, Yuyang ;
Xiao, Zuoping ;
Fung, Hung-Gay .
NORTH AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE, 2020, 53
[35]   China's Economic Statecraft in Latin America: Evidence from China's Policy Banks [J].
Gallagher, Kevin P. ;
Irwin, Amos .
PACIFIC AFFAIRS, 2015, 88 (01) :99-121
[36]   CEO's R&D experience and green innovation: Evidence from China [J].
Bin Yousaf, Umair ;
Yousaf, Imran ;
Hussain, Haroon ;
Hussain, Muhammad Jameel .
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL MONEY AND FINANCE, 2025, 157
[37]   Social Policy and Political Trust: Evidence from the New Rural Pension Scheme in China [J].
Li, Zhonglu ;
Wu, Xiaogang .
CHINA QUARTERLY, 2018, 235 :644-668
[38]   The information transfer effects of political connections on mitigating policy uncertainty: Evidence from China [J].
Liu, Guanchun ;
Hu, May ;
Cheng, Chen .
JOURNAL OF CORPORATE FINANCE, 2021, 67
[39]   Political Capital Imbalance Between University Leaders and University Academic Publications: Evidence from Elite Universities in China [J].
Liu, Bin ;
Qian, Gongming ;
Shen, Yuting ;
Shen, Chen .
HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY, 2024, 37 (04) :848-870
[40]   Early-Life Assets in Oldest-Old Age: Evidence From Primary Care Reform in Early Twentieth Century Sweden [J].
Lazuka, Volha .
DEMOGRAPHY, 2019, 56 (02) :679-706