'… Shih's study is a welcome addition to an important but under-explored topic. Its quantitative treatment of biographical information is innovative and commendable. For these reasons, it deserves to be widely read by those interested in China's political economy and élite politics.' The China Journal
1. Introduction; 2. China's financial performance in comparative perspective; 3. The banking system: flexible institutions and party domination; 4. Factional politics and its financial implications; 5. Factional politics, distribution of loans, and inflationary cycles: several quantitative tests; 6. The collapse of discipline: the first two inflationary cycles and the fiscalization of Chinese banks; 7. The height of the politics of inflation, 1986–1996; 8. The long cycle: 1998–2006; 9. Concluding discussion.