000			01405nam a22001457a 4500
999			_c523346 _d523346
008			230810b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aCheng, Lei and Li, Zhimin _942903
245			_aPolitical connections, competition, and innovation: Quasi-experimental evidence from Chinese firms
260			_aEconomic Development and Cultural Change
300			_a71(3), Apr, 2023: p.819-862
520			_aThis paper studies the causal impact of political connections on innovation. Using a unique hand-collected data set of sudden deaths of politically connected independent directors (i.e., retired government officials) in Chinese firms, we find that an unexpected loss of political connections increases a firm’s patent applications by 34% (14 patents). The innovation response is more pronounced in firms with stronger connections: when the connected directors held higher-level bureaucratic positions or when firms operate within their geographical jurisdictions. Upon losing political connections, firms face higher competitive pressure and divert resources from rent seeking into innovation investment. Our findings highlight the role of competition in the substitution between political connections and innovation, particularly in settings where formal institutions are weak.- Reproduced
773			_aEconomic Development and Cultural Change
906			_aBUSINESS AND POLITICS
942			_cAR