About this series

What is the role of bureaucrats and policies in China’s economic development and governance? What are bureaucratic incentives for policy making and implementation? The answers to these questions will shape economic growth and political development in China for decades to come. This series includes a set of Elements that will provide in-depth discussions pertaining to the political economy of policy making and its impacts in China, including the appointment of bureaucrats, innovation policy, national and local state capacity, the features and evolution of business environment, human capital accumulation, and financial challenges that have long troubled central and local authorities.

Apart from the overview of the rich extant literature, authors of the elements make use of first-hand data and field surveys to offer additional insights into the analysis of these issues, and show how the insights are important for future research and policy making as well. 

About the Editors

Luke Qi Zhang is Associate Professor at the China Center for Economic Studies of the School of Economics at Fudan University. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science at Northwestern University and another Ph.D. in Economics at Peking University. He specializes in the political economy of authoritarianism generally and how elite politics affects policy making and economic outcomes in China specifically. He has published articles in top academic journals, including Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, Journal of Comparative Economics, Social Science Quarterly, China Economic Review, and so on. His book (co-authored with Mingxing Liu), Revolutionary Legacy, Power Structure, and Grassroots Capitalism under the Red Flag in China (Cambridge University Press), proposes a theory of localized property rights protection under authoritarianism, and applies the theory to the private sector development in both the Mao era and the current reform era in China.

Mingxing Liu is Professor of the China Institute for Educational Finance Research at Peking University. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Peking University in China. He works on China's elite politics, economic growth, and local governance. He has published numerous academic articles in international and Chinese journals such as the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Journal of Politics, and China Quarterly.

Daniel Mattingly is Assistant Professor of Department of Political Science at Yale University. He studies the political economy of development and authoritarian politics with a focus on China. He has published his works in journals including the American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Journal of Politics, and World Politics. His book, The Art of Political Control in China (Cambridge University Press) received the Best Book Award from the Democracy and Autocracy Section of the American Political Science Association and was named a best book of the year by Foreign Affairs.

Contact details

Luke Qi Zhang: zhangqifd@live.com  

Mingxing Liu: mingxingliu@pku.edu.cn

Daniel Mattingly: daniel.mattingly@yale.edu

Editorial Advisory Board

• Hanming Fang, School of Economics, University of Pennsylvania
• Jean Hong, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan 
• Roselyn Hsueh, Department of Political Science, Temple University
• Margaret Pearson, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park
• Meg Rithmire, Harvard Business School 
• Victor Shih, School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego
• Kellee, Tsai, Division of Social Sciences, Hongkong University of Science & Technology
• Colin Lixin Xu, Senior Economist, the World Bank
• Jun Zhang, Dean of School of Economics, Fudan University

Areas of interest

Economic growth, innovation, bureaucratic behaviour, fiscal and financial challenges, the business environment, governance, state-business relations and other topics on the Chinese economy and governance 

Statement of Values

When commissioning and reviewing works for the series, the editorial team is guided by the following core values.  

The first core value is academic freedom. Authors should have intellectual independence and the freedom to express their views. This value is especially important to uphold in an era when scholars face significant official pressure to self-censor and conform to official ideology. 

A second core value is to promote a diversity of intellectual viewpoints. To that end, the series editors will commission a number of works that seek to explain China's economic successes and others that examine the pathologies of China's economic model, including corruption, market distortions, and environmental problems.  

The third core value is academic excellence, guided by the peer review process. The peer review process will be rigorous, critical, and constructive in order to meet the world-class standards of Cambridge University Press. 

The series editors plan to meet the challenge of upholding these values in several ways:

The editorial team and editorial board include members based in both China and the United States. They have written prize-winning books on Chinese politics and the Chinese economy for Cambridge University Press. 

In guiding the development of this series as a whole, the series editors aim to highlight a diversity of theoretical and intellectual approaches. 

For the peer review process, the series editors will select reviewers with a significant record of scholarly achievement and a reputation for intellectual independence.