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<p>The global diffusion of neoliberal economic policies is one of the most significant
events in modern history. This research applies current knowledge on policy diffusion
to the analysis of the diffusion of two major neoliberal urban policies among Chinese
cities, namely land banking and privatization of urban infrastructures. Both policies
are believed to have contributed greatly to the rapid growth of China's urban economy,
and reflect the idea of capitalizing a city's tangible assets and utilizing market
institutions to manage them so as to achieve economic gains. </p><p>Borrowing insights
from existing diffusion theories developed by scholars from different background,
this research explores the determinants of the policy innovation decisions by utilizing
three theoretical models: (1) The internal determinants model, which presumes that
the factors causing a local state to adopt a new policy are political, economic, and
social characteristics of the local state. (2) The regional diffusion model, which
posits that the geographical proximity affects diffusion by encouraging emulation
and competition among neighboring states. (3) Institutional diffusion model, which
proposes that a new policy may be adopted to prove the legitimacy of the organization,
to cope with environment uncertainties by modeling others, to conform to the will
of other organizations on which the adopters depend. </p><p>This study emphasizes
the role of the Chinese states, both at the central and local levels, in building
neoliberal market institutions. It pays particular attention to the effects of provincial
governments' pressure, and shows that local states' dependency on higher level authorities
has limited the effectiveness of such interventions. Moreover, I highlight the influence
of horizontal intergovernmental relations, such as competition and emulation, on the
diffusion processes, and argue that it is an important factor that has promoted the
national-wide expansion of neoliberal policies. The results of this study enrich our
understanding on how local policy makings are influenced by complex intergovernmental
relations, and how do local states balance between local economic interests and political
loyalty to higher levels when they formulate local development agenda.</p>
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