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Spillovers in Childbearing Decisions and Fertility Transitions: Evidence from China

Pauline Rossi, Yun Xiao, Mar 24, 2021

To what extent and through which mechanisms are couples influenced by others when choosing their own family size? Recent research exploits exemptions in China’s family planning policies to show that conformism and competition drove the diffusion of small families, and hence accelerated the fertility transition in China.

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.

Primary Care Chronic Disease Management in Rural China

Yiwei Chen, Hui Ding, Min Yu, Jieming Zhong, Ruying Hu, Xiangyu Chen, Chunmei Wang, Kaixu Xie, Karen Eggleston, Dec 11, 2019

Health systems globally face increasing morbidity and mortality from chronic diseases, yet many — especially in low- and middle-income countries — lack strong primary care. Among recent contributions to understanding how economic incentives can be harnessed to address this challenge is a study in which we analyze China’s efforts to promote primary care management for rural residents with chronic disease...

Does Good Luck Make People Overconfident? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in China

Huasheng Gao, Donghui Shi, Bin Zhao, Aug 01, 2018

We find that retail investors who win an allotment for an IPO subscription subsequently become more overconfident relative to retail investors who do not have an allotment. The former group subsequently trades more frequently and loses more money. Overall, our evidence indicates that the experience of good luck makes people more overconfident about their prospects.

In the Shadows of the Government: Relationship-building during Political Turnovers

Hanming Fang, Zhe Li, Nianhang Xu, Hongjun Yan, Mar 06, 2019

We document that firms use two instruments to build relationships with local government officials in China: “perk spending” and personnel changes. Following a turnover in the positions of Party Secretary or Mayor of a city in China, firms (especially private firms) headquartered in that city significantly increase their perk spending...