Improved Local Implementation under Central Inspection? Evidence from Social Mandates in China

While the principal-agent problem has been challenging to public administration in general, it is particularly acute in China, where implementation gaps abound. This study examines whether central inspection, one important form of central monitoring in China, helps reduce implementation output gaps at the provincial level. Based on an analysis of a unique dataset of provincial governments' documents formulated to implement central mandates in social policy areas from 2003 to 2017, it finds mixed results. While central inspection does help speed up provincial implementation outputs, it does not improve the quality of provincial implementation outputs.