Leaders' Power, Promotion Pressure, and China's Urbanization Speed

Abstract

The speed of urbanization in China has been unprecedented, and its driving force has been given much attention in the field. Previous literature analyzes the driving factors of China's urbanization from various aspects, including the economy, population, transportation, housing, and other market factors. However, this study explored the influence of power factors on urbanization from a new perspective of city leaders. Based on the panel data from 285 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2017, a fixed effects model was used to analyze the influence of city leaders’ power hierarchy and promotion pressure on the speed of land and population urbanization. The main conclusions are as follows: First, the power hierarchy of party secretaries has a significant positive impact on land urbanization speed. Party secretaries with a higher position hierarchy can promote land urbanization speed. Second, the promotion pressure of party secretaries exerts a significant impact on land urbanization speed. An inverted “U” relationship has been observed between the age of party secretaries and the speed of land urbanization. The speed reaches its maximum when party secretaries are approximately 56 years old. Furthermore, party secretaries’ tenure has a positive and significant impact on land urbanization speed. Third, the power hierarchy and promotion pressure of party secretaries have no significant impact on the population's urbanization speed. In addition, this research finds that land finance acts as a mediating factor in the influence of party secretaries’ power hierarchy and promotion pressure on land urbanization speed. The conclusions can provide suggestions for improving official evaluation mechanisms and expanding financing for urban construction to promote the development of new human-centered urbanization in China.