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Higher Education and Corporate Innovation

Dongmin Kong, Bohui Zhang, Jian Zhang, Jul 22, 2020

This paper investigates the impact of higher education on corporate innovation using a difference-in-differences approach. We find that Chinese firms in skilled industries generate better innovation outcomes, especially firms headquartered in provinces with more science and engineering college graduates, young firms that are more likely to hire young graduates, and firms located near universities. Also, we show that technological innovation is a mechanism...

Corporate Innovation and IPO Interventions

Lin William Cong, Sabrina T. Howell, May 20, 2020

The Chinese government has occasionally suspended IPOs, exogenously creating uncertainty about access to public markets for firms already approved to list. We show that suspension-induced delay reduces corporate innovation activity both during the delay and for years after listing.

Combating Cross-Border Externalities

Shiyi Chen, Joshua Graff-Zivin, Huanhuan Wang, Jiaxin Xiong, Sep 21, 2022

China implemented a pioneering policy in 2011, the Ecological Compensation Initiative (ECI), which establishes side payments between upstream and downstream provinces in the Xin’an River Basin.

Is the Wife A Risk Mitigator? Evidence from Family Firms in China

Yue Pan, Jinli Xiao, Vincent W. Yao, Jian Zhang, Jun 06, 2018

Firm-level decisions are largely made by corporate executives whose preferences and attitudes can be shaped by historical traits and what is happening inside their households. We investigate how the involvement of a founder’s wife through marital ownership influences the family firm’s level of risk-taking and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Housing Booms and Shirking

Quanlin Gu, Jia He, Wenlan Qian, Oct 03, 2018

Our research studies the incentive costs of China’s housing booms . We use the type and actual time stamps of 9.3 million credit card transactions by over 200,000 cardholders to detect non-work-related behavior during work hours. Employees respond to positive house price shocks with an immediate and permanent increase in their propensity to use work hours to attend to personal needs. Our estimate implies an elasticity of shirking propensity with respect to house price of 1.6. The effect is driven by homeowners, especially among owners with higher housing wealth. Further analyses point to negative productivity implications of the increased shirking.