Urbanization, Governance, and Well-Being in Local China

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | ONLINE ONLY (VIA ZOOM) | REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Most existing empirical evidence supports the positive links between governance and well-being. Yet exactly how governance quality affects residents’ subjective well-being and the magnitude of direct and indirect paths of impact have not been clearly articulated, particularly at the lower levels of government and in the context of rapid and continuing urbanization in developing countries.

In a new study, Professor Juan Chen and her team develop government effectiveness, corruption control, and government accountability as essential measures of local governance quality in the context of China’s new-type urbanization. They further link the developed measures to a national household survey conducted in 40 carefully selected sampling sites undergoing rural-urban transition and estimate the impact of local governance quality on residents’ life satisfaction through both direct and indirect paths. Their research contributes to existing literature and policy debates concerning urbanization, governance, and well-being.

Juan Chen is a Professor of Social Work in the Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Professor Chen’s research centers around migration, urbanization, and urban governance; health, mental health, and well-being; help seeking and service use; social policy and social service systems; and survey research.

This event is part of the 2022-2023 lecture series “Urbanization, Well-being, and Public Policy: China from Comparative Perspectives” and is co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.