Workshop on East Asia: Politics, Economy and Society Presents

“Extra-Budget Funds in China: Source of Corruption or Good Governance?”
Presenter: Yeonju Lee
Doctoral Student of Political Science, University of Chicago

4:00-5:30pm, Tuesday
March 6, 2012
Pick Lounge, 5828 South University Ave.

The workshop will be followed by a reception, in which drinks and snacks will be provided for celebrating the end of the winter quarter.

Abstract: China’s continued growth has remained as critical puzzle especially to those, who believe that non-democracies are inherently self-destructive. With no imminent signs of a significant economic slow-down at sight, these scholars have turned to problematize the quality of the growth; bad quality of the economic growth led to huge governance deficits such as urban-rural inequality, corruption, and deteriorating public finance (Pei 2006; Huang 2007; Wong and Bird 2008; Wong 2009). They point to the increasing amount of extra-budget funds (EBFs) as the principal driver of the bad-quality growth, in particular, corruption. The paper challenges this claim by arguing that EBFs are not inherently detrimental, and that they may improve governance. I also present under what conditions EBFs are expected to be harmful, and when they are expected to improve governance.

Workshop website: http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/eastasia/
Student coordinator: Yang Zhang (yangzhang@uchicago.edu)
Faculty sponsors: Dali Yang and Dingxin Zhao

The workshop is sponsored by the Council on Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences and Center for East Asian Studies. Persons with disabilities who believe they may need assistance, please contact the student coordinator in advance.