Public works and employment programmes have long been considered a staple of social assistance. For the most part, though, they have been designed as short-term safety nets. While, in some cases, the focus has also been on reducing poverty or addressing structural unemployment challenges, their...

We provide a theory of how growth, corruption, and a low-powered public-sector pay scale coexist in a stable equilibrium in the early stage of China's development. The regionally decentralized authoritarian regime of China features lower-level government officials competing for promotion to a...