The Dynamics of Policy Experimentation in the Social Policy Sphere: Policy Innovation and Diffusion in China’s Public Hospital Reform

This study seizes upon an ideal “lab”, China’s public hospital reform, to explain the logic and dynamics of health policy experimentation in an authoritarian state. Commencing in 2010, this large-scale nationwide experimental program is built on multi-phase and multi-level recursive experimentation, with the participation of nearly 200 Chinese cities. A wide range of experimental modalities and policy instruments are observed. Built on a mixed-methods research design, this study seeks to explain social policy innovation and diffusion in China’s public hospital reforms. Upon completion, this project will enrich theoretical knowledge on policy experimentation in authoritarian systems, and update scholarly understanding on the approaches of governance in contemporary China, especially in Xi’s era.