From Political Power to Personal Wealth: Privatization and Elite Opportunity in Post-Reform China

The impact of market transition on economic returns to political power in post-socialist regimes has been the topic of heated debate in past decades. This article aims to provide new answers to this old question by examining how the economic opportunities available to former political elites have been shaped by the process of privatization. Based on firm-level data from a nationally representative survey on private enterprises and entrepreneurs, the authors show that former political elites have actively pursued new opportunities in the growing private sector either by acquiring privatized firms or by establishing their own ones. The extent to which they could convert their political power into personal wealth was contingent upon how the privatization process was structured and regulated in a local context.