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Did the US-China Tariff War Affect China’s Economy? Evidence from Night Lights

Davin Chor, Bingjing Li, Dec 08, 2021

We infer the impact of the US-China tariff war on China’s economy, using high-frequency satellite data on nighttime luminosity. Through a grid-level panel analysis, we find evidence that the US tariffs levied between 2018–2019 on China’s exports had a negative impact on income per capita and manufacturing employment that was very skewed across locations within China. By contrast, China’s retaliatory tariffs on imports from the United States did not have a discernible impact on economic outcomes at the local level.

Trade Policy Uncertainty and Firm Innovation

Qing Liu, Hong Ma, May 12, 2021

This study proposes a novel channel through which trade liberalization may induce innovation through the reduction of trade policy uncertainties (TPU) in destination markets. To verify this link, we utilize the significant reduction of TPU engendered by China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 as a quasi-natural experiment. We find that reduction in TPU significantly encourages firms' patent applications and that firms' innovation responses to TPU reduction vary by productivity, ownership, exporting status, and the irreversibility of investment.

Credit Constraints and Fraud Victimization: Evidence from a Representative Chinese Household Survey

Nan Gao, Yuanyuan Ma, Lixin Colin Xu, Jun 09, 2021

How and why do household credit constraints affect fraud victimization when households face fraud schemes? Using the urban sample of a novel nationally representative data set on fraud victimization and household finance, we find that households facing credit constraints are associated with a higher probability of becoming fraud victims and suffer from higher economic losses from frauds than households...

VoxChina Covid-19 Forum (First Edition): Public Health and Public Policy

VoxChina, Apr 11, 2020

Covid-19 poses unprecedented challenges to the global health and global economy. We are pleased to initiate a series of Covid-19 Public Health and Public Policy Virtual Forums to discuss the impact and policy responses to Covid-19.

Competitive Effects of China’s Listing Suspensions

Frank Packer, Mark M. Spiegel, Oct 28, 2020

China’s suspensions of initial public offerings (IPOs) provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the competitive effects of IPO activity on listed firms, as existing studies are challenged by the influence of market conditions on IPO timing. We evaluate the stock returns of listed firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges over the three most recent suspensions. We confirm adverse effects on listed firms from IPOs, both from direct competition and from the creation of close asset substitutes. We also find that weaker firms are more exposed to the adverse effects of IPO listings.