China Economic Quarterly International最新文献

This paper investigates the impacts of trade openness on the allocation of human capital between public sector and private sector. Using a matched dataset of the 1% survey of China's population in 2005 and other city-level data, we find that individuals who reside in cities with higher degrees of trade openness are less likely to work in public sector, and this effect increases with educational attainment. We then employ a difference-in-differences model and a triple differences model based on the trade liberalization of China to alleviate endogeneity concerns, and finally come to a same conclusion. Further analysis reveals that trade openness triggers human capital reallocation by ameliorating business environment and raising the returns on human capital that is allocated to private sector.

Based on the university mergers policy in China that began in the 1990s, this paper uses a DID regression model to study the impact of higher education resource reallocation on university R&D. It reveals that the university mergers have significantly increased the output of R&D, and the conclusion is consistent in a series of robustness tests. The mechanism analysis results show that the university mergers can affect the R&D by increasing the scientific research funding input in universities, improving the discipline development, and increasing the ability of basic R&D. Heterogeneity test results show that the complementary mergers have a greater impact on R&D in universities. These findings reveal an important mechanism that is conducive to deepening the reform of higher education and catching up with the first-class universities and disciplines.

Using the exogenous shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, we examine whether vertical integration creates value for firms when facing increasing uncertainty. Using cross-sectional data during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we find that there is a significant and positive correlation between vertical integration and cumulative abnormal return in the event window of the COVID-19. Furthermore, when external transaction costs are higher or internal organization costs are lower during the COVID-19 pandemic, the above results are more pronounced. Our results indicate that vertical integration could avoid uncertainty, reduce transaction costs, hence improving corporate value, providing empirical evidence for theories about the uncertainty and vertical integration in transaction-cost economics.

Using several micro-datasets and the difference-in-differences (DID) method, we attempt to study the effects of labor protection on private firms’ exports. We find that labor protection has enormous negative impacts on the exports of private firms. The impacts are more pronounced in cities with higher minimum wages and in more labor-intensive firms. The mechanism analysis shows that labor protection reduces the productivity of private firms and long-term employment. The findings suggest that governments need to implement supplementary measures to reduce the negative effects of labor cost increases induced by the Labor Contract Law.

This paper examines how digital finance development affects household risk sharing in China. We provide convincing evidence that households that experience idiosyncratic negative shocks on income growth exhibit a disproportionally lower level of reduction in idiosyncratic consumption growth in regions with better digital financial inclusion. Improved risk sharing through reduction in transaction costs of remittance that digital finance generates, and the liquidity and saving effects that digital financial products provide are two possible mechanisms through which digital financial inclusion affects household risk sharing. However, the development of traditional banking credit market does not appear to promote risk sharing.

In this paper, we examine the impact of housing rent increase on migrants' household consumption and social integration. Using the China Migrants Dynamic Survey 2011–2014, we find that rent increase significantly reduces migrants’ non-housing consumption and leads to deteriorating social integration. Heterogeneous analyses find that rent increase has a larger impact on male migrants, older people with high school degrees or above, and those who work in the service industry. Additionally, rent increase exacerbates residential segregation between migrants and local residents. Our study provides implications for how policies can help migrants adapt to urban life.

This article studies the effects of Chinese aid on economic development in Africa. We geographically match Chinese aid in Africa to the satellite nightlight and other variables. Using a grid-cell panel dataset, we find that Chinese aid, particularly infrastructure projects, has significant and robust positive impacts on the economic development in Africa. Mechanism analysis suggests that Chinese aid substantially reduces violent rebel activities and growth in population and industries. The heterogeneous analysis demonstrates that Chinese infrastructure projects foster development not via resource exploitation.

By analyzing high-frequency data of mobile platform transactions in a large Chinese city, this paper explores the effects of digital coupons on catering and retailing businesses. The results show that digital coupons could generate positive and sustainable effects on the turnover and total sales of local catering and retailing businesses. These positive effects are found for catering and retailing businesses of all sizes, especially large merchants. In addition, while digital coupons are effective in boosting the consumption of commodities such as food and cell phones, they do not crowd out spending on other categories.