ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Comparative Governance
This article is part of the Research TopicGlobal Governance Gone Astray? Contagious Authoritarianism, Democracy Backsliding, and the Sustainability of a Multi-Centric Global Governance ModelView all articles
From Governance to Growth: Comparative Insights on Institutional Reforms in China and Latin America
Provisionally accepted
- 1Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Lima District, Peru
- 2Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima District, Peru
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This study examines the effects of China's rule-of-law reforms and anti-corruption measures under Xi Jinping on economic performance, using China as a benchmark to compare with seven Latin American countries. Drawing on two decades of panel data and employing fixed and random effects models with interaction terms, the paper investigates how improvements in corruption control and the rule of law influence long-term growth. The results show that China's state-led institutional reforms have strengthened bureaucratic efficiency, policy coordination, and investment conditions, fostering sustained economic expansion. In contrast, Latin America's fragmented institutions, weak enforcement of legal frameworks, and persistent corruption limit the effectiveness of governance reforms, constraining economic growth. By systematically comparing China and Latin America, this study contributes to comparative political economy by demonstrating how targeted, state-driven institutional reforms can shape governance quality and long-term developmental trajectories.
Keywords: Control of corruption, Rule of law, economic growth, China, Latin America
Received: 04 Oct 2025; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Valdiglesias. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jhon Valdiglesias
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