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From Fog to Smog: The Value of Pollution Information

Panle Jia Barwick, Shanjun Li, Liguo Lin, Eric Zou, Feb 05, 2020

During 2013–2014, China launched a nation-wide real-time air quality monitoring and disclosure program, which was a watershed moment in the history of its environmental regulations. We present the first empirical analysis of this natural experiment by exploiting its staggered introduction across cities. The program substantially expanded public access to pollution information, and in turn, triggered a cascade...

The Impact of Health Insurance on the Wellbeing of Older Chinese

Sisi Yang, Katja Hanewald, Aug 12, 2020

Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2011, 2013 and 2015, we analyze whether the universal health insurance system in China increases the life satisfaction of middle-aged and older adults and to what extent the type of health insurance affects their life satisfaction. We find that the life satisfaction of middle-aged and older adults does not depend on having any health insurance...

Currency Carry Trade by Trucks: The Curious Case of China’s Massive Imports from Itself

Xuepeng Liu, Heiwai Tang, Zhi Wang, Shang-Jin Wei, Apr 13, 2022

Capital controls are common in many developing countries. With capital controls, the standard financial market transactions needed for currency carry trade are hard to implement. Yet, as long as there is a big difference between domestic and foreign interest rates, the incentive to engage in currency carry trade is present.

Misallocation, Selection, and Productivity: A Quantitative Analysis with Panel Data from China

Tasso Adamopoulos, Loren Brandt, Jessica Leight, Diego Restuccia, Jan 05, 2022

We examine the distorting effects of China’s land institutions on aggregate agricultural productivity and other outcomes. We argue these distortions affect two key margins: (1) the allocation of resources across farmers (misallocation); and (2) the type of farmers who operate in agriculture (selection).

How Do Workers and Households Adjust to Robots?

Osea Giuntella, Yi Lu, Tianyi Wang, Apr 26, 2023

We analyze the effects of exposure to industrial robots on labor markets and household behaviors, exploring longitudinal household data from the China Family Panel Studies.