When it comes to political party membership things are not a lot better with election turn outs often being woeful.
It is interesting to note therefore that in China membership of the CPC has been increasing.
The questions of interest are:
1. Do we believe / can we trust these figures?
2. Assuming the figures are correct it is an interesting economic exercise to ponder exactly why membership is increasing. Note the large increase from college graduates. Now assuming that individuals are attempting to mazimise their incomes it is not surprise that more and more college graduates are joining. The saying "it is not what you know but who you know" rings true in the developed world and it is clear that being a CPC memeber can only HELP you job prospects. To not join given the competetion for jobs would therefore be sub-optimal.
Moreover, an examiniation of the backgrounds of the top Chinese entrepheneurs would indicate that a large percentage are the children of top party officials.
In blunt terms, being a party member pays. Hence the incease in membership. It is simply a rational economic decision.
Number of CPC members increases by 6.4 million over 2002
The number of Communist Party of China (CPC) members has reached 73.36 million, an increase of 6.42 million over 2002, according to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.
On average, about 2.4 million new CPC members enrol each year, department statistics show. From 2002, when the 16th CPC national congress was held, to June 2007, the CPC has welcomed 13.16 million new members.
Twelve percent of the new members over the last five years had previously been recognized as model workers and 32.5 percent were college graduates.
By June this year, there were about 3.6 million grass-roots CPC organizations, up 142,000 over 2002, the department said.
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