China & World Economy最新文献

Male-biased sex imbalance is a common social concern in many developing countries. Using 2015 One Percent National Population Sample Census data and macro-level indicators from various sources in China, this study examines the impact of social health insurance on sex selection at birth. The results show that social health insurance significantly affected the sex ratio at birth for the second child in families with a first-born girl, and there was salient urban–rural heterogeneity. Urban health insurance programs decreased the male–female ratio at the birth of the second child, suggesting that these programs mitigated the sex imbalance. In contrast, the expansion of rural health insurance caused an increase in the imbalanced sex ratio, indicating an exacerbation of the trend. The urban–rural difference in these impacts could be explained by a greater crowding-out effect in urban families and larger income and expenditure effects in rural families.

This study employs a multidisciplinary theoretical framework – drawing on fields such as media framing, agenda setting, and the economic and political dimensions – to conduct a sentiment analysis of 507 articles on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) published in The Economist, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Economic and Political Weekly. Three key findings emerge. First, negative sentiment dominates the overall discourse. Second, a clear disparity exists between financial and political magazines: Financial publications present the BRI more positively, whereas political ones present the BRI more negatively. Third, a timeline analysis from 2013 to 2023 shows a gradual shift toward more negative coverage. It means that the age of the BRI project attracts increased resistance. These findings offer valuable insights into the evolving perceptions and attitudes surrounding the BRI in influential global media outlets, providing a nuanced understanding of how media framing and the interplay between economic and political dimensions can shape public discourse on complex geopolitical initiatives.

This study examines the impact of digitalization on firm–product-level export quality customization (EQC). Export quality customization refers to the degree to which export product quality differs across international destinations. Analysis of firm–product-level transaction data for Chinese exporting firms from 2000 to 2013 showed that a 10 percent increase in the digital equipment-to-labor ratio corresponded to a 2 percent increase in EQC. This general trend was robust across various measures of firm–product-level EQC. An instrumental variables approach was employed to address potential endogeneity and the broad findings held across multiple subsamples. Aggregate data were used to examine the influence of sectoral robot stocks on product-level EQC during 2006–2019, with consistent results. A mechanism analysis shows that digitalization increased firm– product-level EQC mainly by enhancing firm-level operational flexibility, which enabled firms to make small, continuous production adjustments, expanding their feasible quality range and enabling process innovations, thereby facilitating firm–product-level customization practices.

The impact of family size on female participation in the labor market has long intrigued economists, with inconclusive findings. This paper examines the dynamic effect of having a second child on female workforce participation in China by utilizing the 2015 universal two-child policy as a quasi-natural experiment. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies and employing the difference-in-differences model, this study found that for policy-targeted women, the net effect of having a second child on their workforce participation was insignificant following the policy's implementation. However, upon further exploration of the time-varying effect, it was discovered that in the first two years after they gave birth, policy-targeted women were significantly less likely to enter the workforce due to child-care needs. However, influenced by increased household economic pressure, the likelihood of women entering the workforce increased significantly in the fourth year after giving birth. These results indicate that the effect of a second child on female workforce participation was not uniform and displayed temporal variability. This study enriches the existing literature on how family size affects female workforce participation and contributes to a deeper understanding of the effects of relaxed fertility policies.

In 2018, China implemented the Guidelines on Regulating the Asset Management of Financial Institutions, a financial regulation aimed at restricting enterprises' financial investments through asset management products. This policy sought to curb corporate financialization and potentially impact other corporate activities. Treating this policy as a quasi-experiment, the present study employed a generalized difference-in-differences regression model to examine its effect on corporate research and development (R&D) from the perspective of de-financialization. Using data from Chinese listed companies spanning 2013 to 2022, the key findings are as follows: (i) The policy significantly boosted corporate R&D intensity. Enterprises with higher levels of financialization before the policy experienced a more substantial increase in R&D intensity after its implementation. (ii) Heterogeneity tests reveal that the positive effect of the policy on R&D was more pronounced for firms in high-tech industries, those with greater corporate transparency, and those receiving more government subsidies. (iii) The policy's impact on R&D was driven by the reallocation of resources from financial to real assets, as well as the alleviation of firms' financing constraints.

This study investigates how the construction of technology transfer markets in China can affect local entrepreneurial activity. Using new firm registration data from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China, the analysis treated the establishment of national technology transfer centers (NTTCs) as a quasi-natural experiment and employed a staggered difference-in-differences approach. The results indicate that the establishment of NTTCs has a positive impact on entrepreneurship. Robustness checks supported a causal interpretation of the results. The primary mechanisms identified were increased availability of entrepreneurial resources and improvements in the local entrepreneurial environment. The effects were more pronounced in technology-intensive manufacturing and producer service industries, and in cities with lower administrative status and higher levels of financial development. Further analysis revealed that NTTCs contribute to economic growth by promoting entrepreneurship. The results have policy implications for government-led development of technology transfer markets.

This study examined the impact of digital inputs on global supply-chain security. Using data from the Asian Development Bank Multiregional Input–Output database, covering 62 countries or regions and 35 industries from 2007 to 2022, digital inputs were found to enhance the level of supply-chain security significantly. In times of crisis prevention, digital inputs not only improved supply-chain security but also contributed to a notable recovery effect. Mechanism tests indicated that digital inputs enhanced supply-chain security mainly by improving information transmission efficiency and increasing both demand-side and supply-side information transparency. Heterogeneity analysis indicated that all three mechanisms were significant in the manufacturing sector, but demand-side information transparency was not significant in the service sector. Further analysis identified post and telecommunications sector as having the greatest positive impact on supply-chain security.

Multinational companies are increasingly recognizing the importance of integrating social responsibility initiatives into their business models as a means of building a sustainable competitive advantage. This study uses data from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning from 2009 to 2020 to conduct an empirical analysis. The findings indicate that strong environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance facilitated firms' integration into global supply chains. This effect was particularly pronounced among firms in heavily polluting and labor-intensive industries, and those located in provinces with weaker institutional environments and underdeveloped industrial structures – regions often associated with greater ESG-related identity challenges. The positive impact of ESG performance was also more evident in firms that supplied listed companies or operated closer to end consumers, due to increased public scrutiny. Mechanism analysis revealed that ESG performance served as a signaling tool by enhancing information transparency and building reputational capital. Further analysis showed that ESG performance not only supported firms' entry into host countries with stronger institutional environments but also contributed to longer lasting supply chain relationships. This article provides new insights into how emerging economies could integrate into the international supply chain system more effectively.

Classical development economics theories offer conflicting perspectives on the relationship between urbanization and urban–rural income gaps (URIG). This study examined the impact on URIG of county-to-district transformation (CDT), a Chinese government-led urbanization strategy. Using county-level panel data from 2000 to 2022, the analysis found that CDT promoted county-level economic growth, resulting in absolute income gains for both urban and rural residents. However, urban incomes grew at a faster rate, widening the relative income gap. This gap-widening effect was primarily driven by urban-biased land allocation and fiscal expenditure preferences, with a more pronounced effect in areas that were farther from the city government and smaller in scale. Agricultural support measures could mitigate this trend. Dynamic analysis revealed that the impact of CDT on URIG followed a short-term expansion and long-term convergence trend. These findings provide new evidence regarding urbanization and income disparity and offer policy insights for the promotion of inclusive growth through urbanization in developing countries.