Journal of Asian Economics最新文献

The business environment is the foundation for the survival and development of market entities, and the choice of entry mode of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is an important strategic decision for the OFDI behavior of market entities. Studying the relationship between the business environment and the OFDI entry mode of enterprises is one of the essential contents to stimulate the vitality of market entities and promote economic circulation. Based on the data from the World Bank’s Doing Business Database and China’s OFDI events from 2010 to 2019, this paper examines the impact of the business environment on enterprises’ OFDI entry mode choices from varying perspectives, such as enterprises’ different life cycles, heterogeneous investment motivations, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The result shows that the business environment is an essential factor affecting the choice of OFDI mode. The better the business environment in the host country, the more favorable it will be for Chinese enterprises to choose cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Different investment motivations and the BRI have a moderating effect on enterprises’ OFDI entry mode choice. An improved business environment makes it easier for companies to boost cross-border M&A in developing countries than in developed ones. “Starting a business” and “trading across borders” will have a positive impact on cross-border M&A, and “getting credit” will encourage enterprises to choose the OFDI mode of greenfield investments.

Household size in rural China has seen a shrinking trend in the past decades. This has been attributed to the one-child policy, low fertility rates, and population migration under rapid urbanization. This paper suggests that the gender imbalance in the marriage market has improved the bargaining power of wives, which has led them to divide up the family and live apart from their parents-in-law. This trend has improved the share of doubleton families and decreased the size of households in rural China. Employing nationally representative survey data, empirical evidence indicates that the gender imbalance has significant positive effects on the probability of married women living apart from parents-in-law. This effect is stronger in rural China than in urban China. This paper sheds light on the driving forces of shrinking household size in rural China and has important implications for future family policies such as supporting the elderly in rural China.

Urban-rural medical insurance integration aims to raise the medical insurance reimbursements for rural residents and ultimately improve their health. Using China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2010 to 2018, we employ a time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model to identify the impact of urban-rural medical insurance integration on the physical and mental health of the middle-aged and elderly in rural areas. We find that urban-rural medical insurance integration significantly improves physical and mental health of middle-aged and elderly in rural areas, and this positive effect exists for a long time. The improvement of health can be attributed to the release of medical needs, the decrease in the medical burden and the increase in the trust in doctors. Then, we find that urban-rural medical insurance integration also has indirect effect, that is, the integration significantly increases the willingness to enroll in insurance of rural middle-aged and elderly individuals with low incomes, which could result in increased access to health services and their health. Finally, the village committee’s regular announcement changes of medical insurance policy can strengthen the positive impact of the policy on the health.

China’s new Labor Contract Law (LCL), which came into force in 2008, has greatly improved the protection of workers and increased the cost of labor. This study employs the cross-sectional variation in labor intensity and time variation before and after the new LCL, to investigate its impact on firms’ risk-taking behavior. The analysis finds strong and robust evidence that the LCL increased the risk-taking of firms in industries with higher labor intensity. The increased risk-taking mainly arose among firms in regions with stricter law enforcement, firms that were less law abiding before the new LCL, as well as non-state-owned firms and efficient firms. The study also identifies two key mechanisms through which the new LCL increased firms’ risk-taking behavior: capital deepening and productivity improvement.

We use a panel dataset of around 3500 rural households from Southeast Asia and investigate evidence on crime victimization. More concretely, we ask (1) to what extent are rural people affected by crime? (2) What factors determine rural crime victimization? And (3) what are the impacts of crime victimization on welfare of rural households? We use the routine activity approach as the theoretical framework and apply different logit models to identify determinants of crime victimization. We find that 5.46% of the rural households have been victimized, mainly by theft, over the last 12 months, some of them even more than once. Living in a rural region with higher levels of inequality is positively correlated with the likelihood of theft victimization. Households with higher levels of crop commercialization are associated with a higher victimization risk, while households with more livestock and being more specialized in specific livestock species are associated with a lower risk. Moreover, past victimization and exposure to weather shocks are positively associated with the likelihood of being affected by crime. With respect to the impacts, we use the heteroscedasticity-based instrumental variable approach to account for endogeneity and find highly significant negative effects of agricultural theft victimization on food consumption and child health outcomes. We conclude that rural crime requires attention although overall incidence is low in rural Thailand and Vietnam. Guardianship should be promoted, especially in times of weather shocks. Finally, reducing inequality helps preventing theft.

The automatic production line will alter the workflow and workshop production system, which will significantly impact how the workers perform their jobs. Using employer-employee matching survey data from the manufacturing sector in Guangdong Province, this paper found that production automation upgrades significantly increase working hours. The findings remain robust even after dealing with endogeneity issues. A plausible explanation is that improved general-purpose technology integrated into the production system will damage employees' unique talents by "deskilling". The heterogeneity analysis shows that labor degradation caused by technological change can be effectively mitigated by labor union protection and the accumulation of workers' human capital. Furthermore, production automation upgrades will probably change the way wages are paid, with less use of the piece-rate system. Although workers may receive some wage compensation for overwork, production automation upgrades may have unfavorable consequences (such as mental health, etc.). This study sheds light on how shop floor workers perform their jobs in the face of the wave of automation, offering fresh policy insights for promoting decent work and achieving inclusive growth.

China’s highway network experienced rapid expansion during the 2010s, accompanied by a surge in debt borrowed for construction. Are these newly-constructed highways being fully utilized? To examine the impact of usage efficiency on the debt burden, we construct a unique dataset that includes transportation densities and financial indicators of toll highways. Our findings indicate that declining usage efficiency significantly increases the debt burden. Specifically, for every additional 100 million yuan invested in toll road construction, the average freight density on the highway network decreases by 3,630 tons, and passenger density decreases by 1,340 individuals. The decline in usage efficiency escalates debt service payments and expands budget deficits. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the drop in usage efficiency notably increases toll road debt burdens in economically less-developed regions and in government-repaid toll road projects.

The experiences of student life can have lasting impacts on an individual's future outcomes. We take the policy of the Rural Primary School Consolidation Program (RPSCP) in 2001 as a quasi-natural experiment, and comprehensively examine the long-term impact of this policy on students’ migration decisions in the future. We find that the RPSCP policy has a persisting negative impact on rural students’ future migration, with a more pronounced effect among girls and younger students. Mechanism analysis suggests that the RPSCP can hinder the process of human capital accumulation, thereby reducing the likelihood of migration. Further investigation highlights that school consolidation not only affects students' career choices, but also has a profound impact on household registration conversion and settlement intentions in other regions.

This study investigates the relationship between digital financial use and resident’s income inequality based on 2019 CHFS data. We argue that digital finance usage impacts resident’s income inequality both directly and indirectly. To examine the impact of digital financial use on resident’s income inequality and explore transmission mechanisms, including differences across regions, occupations, work types, and education levels, we employ ordinary least squares. Our results reveal that digital payments, digital money management, digital funds, and credit card usage have a positive mitigating effect on resident’s income inequality. Digital financial services have a significant positive impact on resident’s income inequality in southern, northern, coastal, and inland regions. Among purely agricultural farmers, digital payments, digital money management, and credit cards' effects are more pronounced than purely non-agricultural farmers. The use of digital financial also reduces resident’s income inequality among different work types, including institutional, state-owned, self-employed, and private enterprise. Family entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial frequency, and working outside the home are important channels through which digital financial services mitigate resident’s income inequality. Digital payments and credit cards reduce resident’s wage income inequality, while digital money management and digital funds are effective in reducing resident’s property income inequality.

Is there any benefit to reducing emissions for firms? Based on the China Industrial Enterprises Emission and Pollution Database and the Annual Survey of Industrial Firms, this study investigates the impact of firms’ emissions reduction on their tax burden. We find strong and consistent evidence of a significant reduction in the tax burden following a reduction of firms polluting emissions. This effect mainly manifests in large-scale firms, firms whose taxes are collected by the local taxation bureaus (LTB), and firms in regions with stricter environmental regulations. We also find that tax breaks and government subsidies are important pathways to reduce corporate tax burden. Further exploration documents that firms’ bargaining power and local tax enforcement have significantly moderating effects on the relationship between firms’ emissions reduction and their tax burden.