Do China's anti-corruption campaigns impact art prices? Evidence from Chinese art market

China's recent anti-corruption campaign has raised concerns about its potential impact on the Chinese art market, given the widespread use of artworks as implicit bribes. Using a large auction dataset for traditional Chinese paintings, we examine whether anti-corruption measures have caused a decline in art prices. We use the number of high-ranking officials (vice-ministerial level or higher) under anti-corruption investigation as a proxy for the intensity of such measures. Our results show a statistically significant negative impact: for each additional downfall of a high-ranking official in a region, auction prices for Chinese paintings decrease by 5.5%. The negative effect is more evident for paintings drawn by non-masters and those with lower prices.