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Magnification of the “China Shock” Through the U.S. Housing Market

Yuan Xu, Hong Ma, Robert Feenstra, Jan 22, 2020

The “China shock” operated in part through the U.S. housing market, which is one important reason the China shock was as big as it was. If housing prices had not responded at all to the China shock, then the total employment effect would have been reduced by more than one-half. Even when fully recognizing that housing prices responded to the China shock, the independent employment effect of the China shock is still reduced by around 30%.

Special Deals from Special Investors: The Rise of State-Connected Private Owners in China

Chong-En Bai, Chang-Tai Hsieh, Michael Zheng Song, Xin Wang, Feb 10, 2021

We document a hierarchy of private owners connected to the state through equity investment and a rapid expansion of this hierarchy over the past two decades. We build a model to show how the effects of a special deal from a state investor can be transmitted and amplified through the hierarchy. Our estimation suggests that the expansion in the span of state-connected private owners may have increased aggregate output of the private sector by 4.2% a year between 2000 and 2019.

The Fertility Consequences of Air Pollution in China

Xuwen Gao, Ran Song, Christopher Timmins, Sep 07, 2022

We incorporate pollution exposure into Becker’s Quantity-Quality (Q-Q) model of fertility and evaluate how air pollution distorts individuals’ fertility behaviors in China. We find that increased pollution over time negatively affects the fertility of ethnic Han people, but does not affect the fertility of ethnic minorities. China’s One-Child Policy increased Han people’s demand for child quality (e.g., health status and education achievement), which can explain the negative association between pollution and fertility for Han people.

Government Deleveraging and Non-SOE Liquidity Squeeze: Evidence from Subnational Debt and Government Contractors

Jiayin Hu, Songrui Liu, Yang Yao, Zhu Zong, May 15, 2024

China's deleveraging policies have inadvertently exacerbated the financial liquidity pressure on non-state-owned enterprise (non-SOE) contractors, revealing the potential adverse impact of government fiscal consolidation on private enterprises.

Do Multinationals Transfer Culture? Evidence on Female Employment in China

Heiwai Tang, Yifan Zhang, Nov 10, 2021

In our recent paper (Tang and Zhang 2021), we investigate the global diffusion of culture through multinationals. We study specifically how foreign affiliates serve as a vehicle to diffuse gender norms from their countries of origin to China. Based on Chinese manufacturing firm-level data, we find that foreign affiliates in China tend to employ proportionally more female workers than local Chinese firms within the same industry...