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Economic Growth — in the World and in China

Robert J. Barro, Jul 12, 2017

Convergence forces suggest that China’s per capita GDP growth rate will decline gradually from around 7% per year to the world’s historical average of 2%. In the past, this convergence tendency was more than offset by China’s opening to markets, improved legal institutions and business regulations, increased investment rates, higher life expectancy, and reduced fertility—but the convergence force will ultimately dominate.

Connections and Buildings collapse in the Sichuan Earthquake

Yiming Cao, May 24, 2023

This study investigates the factors contributing to building damage during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

BigTech Lending as a New Form of Financial Intermediation

Jon Frost, Leonardo Gambacorta, Yi Huang, Hyun Song Shin, Pablo Zbinden, Jun 19, 2019

BigTech firms, i.e. large technology firms whose primary business is digital services, are entering finance. Their entry into finance started with payments. Increasingly, they have expanded beyond payments into the provision of credit, insurance, and toward savings products, either directly or in partnership with incumbent financial institutions...

Reluctant Entrepreneurs: Evidence from China’s SOE Reform

Hanming Fang, Ming Li, Zenan Wu, Yapei Zhang, Oct 09, 2023

In this column, we examine how the presence of state-owned enterprises (SOE) affects the private sector by influencing the allocation of skills across SOEs, private sector waged employment and entrepreneurship.

The Anatomy of Chinese Innovation: Insights on Patent Quality and Ownership

Philipp Boeing, Loren Brandt, Ruochen Dai, Kevin Lim, Bettina Peters, May 07, 2025

Chinese patenting has become narrower and less innovative over time. The role of overseas knowledge has also declined sharply. These findings are salient in the context of a marked slowdown in economic growth in China and rising concerns of technological decoupling with the US.