Fredrik Sjöholm commended the author for the novel political–economy insights provided in the paper on the emerging threat of social instability and polarization in China amidst rapid growth. Hoe noted, however, that there was room to improve the analytical content of the paper by clearly spelling out the theoretical underpinning of the postulated relationship between corruption and the life satisfaction score (happiness). Was corruption an integral element of the Chinese developmental state strategy described in Section 2 of the paper, which generated a virtuous circle of “rapid growth, enhanced confidence, high investment, and further high growth”? Sjöholm also suggested that the author describe the implications of the findings for the contemporary debate of the process of democratization in China.
Relating to the results of the comparative analysis, Wing Thye Woo argued that the differences in the level of happiness of each of the three sub-samples (rural, urban, and rural–urban migrant...