Extralegal Governance

The Social Order of Illegal Markets in China

Peng Wang (University of Hong Kong), Wanlin Lin (Sun Yat-sen University)

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English

Cambridge University Press
25 September 2025

Macroeconomics; Political economy

Series: Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society

Drawing on insights from sociology and new institutional economics, Extralegal Governance provides the first comprehensive account of China's illegal markets by applying a socio-economic approach. It considers social legitimacy and state repression in examining the nature of illegal markets. It examines how power dynamics and varying levels of punishment shape exchange relationships between buyers and sellers. It identifies context-specific risks and explains how private individuals and organizations address these risks by developing extralegal governance institutions to facilitate social cooperation across various illegal markets. Adopting a multiple-case study design to sample China's illegal markets, this book utilizes four cases - street vending, small-property-rights housing, corrupt exchanges, and online loan sharks - to examine how market participants foster cooperation and social order in illegal markets.

By: Peng Wang (University of Hong Kong), Wanlin Lin (Sun Yat-sen University)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781009622172
ISBN 10: 100962217X
Series: Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society
Pages: 228
Publication Date: 25 September 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Peng Wang is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, the University of Hong Kong. He is the author of The Chinese Mafia: Organized Crime, Corruption and Extralegal Protection (2017). His research interests include organized crime, illegal markets, corruption, economic sociology, bureaucracy, and governance. Wanlin Lin is Associate Professor at the School of Law, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. Her current research applies institutional economics, law and economics, and game theory to study informal property rights, illegal markets, knowledge governance in China, and interactions between formal and informal institutions.