{"title":"Hometown favoritism and intra-regional trade barriers under decentralization: Evidence from China","authors":"Min Dai, Yongwei Ye","doi":"10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107062","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Decentralization management in inter-jurisdictional contexts requires careful consideration. This article highlights the potential for hometown favoritism to undermine decentralization practices. China established its ambitious social credit system in the highway construction sector in 2009, where local rating agencies are responsible for the grading of firms’ social credit ratings. Using a unique dataset spanning 2010–2022, we find that local firms can achieve higher social credit ratings, helping them meet more bidding requirements. Local firms are less likely to be downgraded, and those with stronger local cultural and economic ties receive higher ratings. Hometown favoritism in credit ratings is particularly pronounced for eponymous firms, less important and lower-quality construction projects, and it varies over time, increasing during periods of poor economic performance. Further evidence suggests that local firms win more bids, although changes in local ratings are less predictive of securing new bids. These findings underscore the previously unexplored role of hometown favoritism in creating trade barriers under decentralization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48409,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization","volume":"235 ","pages":"Article 107062"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268125001817","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Decentralization management in inter-jurisdictional contexts requires careful consideration. This article highlights the potential for hometown favoritism to undermine decentralization practices. China established its ambitious social credit system in the highway construction sector in 2009, where local rating agencies are responsible for the grading of firms’ social credit ratings. Using a unique dataset spanning 2010–2022, we find that local firms can achieve higher social credit ratings, helping them meet more bidding requirements. Local firms are less likely to be downgraded, and those with stronger local cultural and economic ties receive higher ratings. Hometown favoritism in credit ratings is particularly pronounced for eponymous firms, less important and lower-quality construction projects, and it varies over time, increasing during periods of poor economic performance. Further evidence suggests that local firms win more bids, although changes in local ratings are less predictive of securing new bids. These findings underscore the previously unexplored role of hometown favoritism in creating trade barriers under decentralization.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization is devoted to theoretical and empirical research concerning economic decision, organization and behavior and to economic change in all its aspects. Its specific purposes are to foster an improved understanding of how human cognitive, computational and informational characteristics influence the working of economic organizations and market economies and how an economy structural features lead to various types of micro and macro behavior, to changing patterns of development and to institutional evolution. Research with these purposes that explore the interrelations of economics with other disciplines such as biology, psychology, law, anthropology, sociology and mathematics is particularly welcome.