Research

Selected Working Papers

Causes and Consequences of Gendered Bureaucratic Recruitment: A Study of China

R&R, The Journal of Politics · Best Paper Prize, EGEN

While the causes and consequences of gender bias are well documented, it remains unclear whether existing theories explain gender dynamics in China’s ostensibly meritocratic bureaucracy. This study addresses this gap by leveraging original administrative data from the Chinese National Civil Service Examination. The findings show widespread gender bias, with an increased supply of qualified female applicants in prior years prompting hiring authorities, particularly at lower levels of government, to adopt recruitment practices favoring male candidates. These male-preferred practices significantly reshape the candidate pool, reducing its size by 40–50% and lowering candidate quality by 3–5%. These findings deepen our understanding of women’s persistent underrepresentation in the Chinese bureaucracy and highlight the substantial costs associated with gendered recruitment practices.

Upholding the Glass Ceiling: How Gender Quotas Restrict Women’s Descriptive Representation.

With Jian Kang and Xinhui Jiang. Under Review.

Previous research has highlighted the positive role of gender quotas in enhancing women’s descriptive representation. However, little is known about whether the benefits of quotas persist in the long term. Examining the appointment data ten years after China implemented the quota of “at least one woman” in leadership positions, this study demonstrates that once quota targets are met, gender quotas may hinder further progress in women’s representation. Specifically, we find that meeting the quota target—by appointing at least one woman—reduces the likelihood of appointing additional women, regardless of the role of the incumbent female leader. The likelihood of appointing a woman increases only when an incumbent woman vacates her position. These patterns are consistently observed across government and the Communist Party organizations in China. Our findings highlight the unintended long-term restrictive effects of gender quotas on women’s descriptive representation in the Chinese context.

Whose Voice Counts? Regime Insiders, Gender, and Legislative Responsiveness in Authoritarian China.

With Dongshu Liu. Working Paper.

To mitigate threats from both elites and the masses, authoritarian legislatures often allocate seats to regime insiders and demographically diverse outsiders. While it is clear not all legislative seats are equal, little is known about who holds greater influence in shaping policy. Drawing on a unique dataset of legislative proposals and official responses in China, this study finds that proposals submitted by male regime insiders are significantly more likely to receive favorable responses. In contrast, while female legislators who are regime outsiders can meaningfully influence policymaking, female insiders are penalized with significantly lower policy influence compared to both male insiders and female outsiders. These findings reveal a hierarchy of influence within authoritarian legislatures and show that descriptive representation does not necessarily translate into substantive representation.

It’s All About Who You Know: Patronage Networks and Public Sector Headcounts in China.

With Rui Zuo. Data Analysis.

Using an original dataset on Chinese public sector job listings (approximately 800,000 records) spanning from 2013 to 2023, this project examines how patronage networks shape the distribution of public sector headcounts — an important resource not well understood in the Chinese context. Leveraging leadership turnovers as an identification strategy, the generalized Difference-in-Differences analysis reveals that jurisdictions led by politically connected leaders tend to have a greater number of public sector jobs. Interestingly, the effect of patronage on job allocation is more pronounced in agencies accountable to the provincial government, and less so in agencies that report directly to the central government. This article demonstrates that patronage not only influences the allocation of public sector jobs in electoral democracies, where it serves as a tool to reward supporters, but also operates in one-party systems like China, where networks play a significant role in both political and societal spheres.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Fan Yang, Xiaoxia Huang, & Zhichao Li. (2022). Gender, situational visibility, and discretionary decision-making of regulatory street-level bureaucrats under pandemic emergency: An experimental study in China. Public Management Review, 24(8), 1312-1329.

Fan Yang, Zhichao Li, & Xiaoxia Huang. (2021). Frontline information disclosure and street-level bureaucrats’ willingness to follow the rules: evidence from local regulatory agencies in China. International Public Management Journal, 24(6), 831-845.