Official Turnover and Sustainable Development in China: Official Turnover and Sustainable Development in China

Achieving sustainable development is an important goal for China’s economic transformation to high-quality development. Using the city-year panel data and constructing a green total factor productivity (GTFP) indicator, we implement the idea of an “event study” to explore the impact of official turnover on sustainable development in China. The results, supported by a series of robustness tests, show that official turnover significantly contributes to sustainable development. Furthermore, official turnover mainly promotes sustainable development through the deterrent effect and reducing government construction investment; the turnover of highly educated, local, promoted, and experienced officials could better promote sustainable development. These findings shed new light on the determinants of sustainable development and suggest that local official turnover plays an important role in China’s high-quality development.