The art of political ambiguity: top–down intergovernmental information asymmetry in China

What is it about?

This paper examines the intriguing phenomenon of intentional political ambiguity that upper-level governments create to manipulate lower-level governments in China.

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Why is it important?

This article contributes to the studies of principal-agent relations in countries with multi-level governments by revealing the motives and practices of top-down information asymmetry, which has not received enough attention from existing literature. It also generates important policy implications by showing how political ambiguity from above may affect policy implementation by grassroots bureaucrats.