A Bridge on Economic Issues between China and the World
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Building Tall, Falling Short: An Empirical Assessment of Chinese Skyscrapers
Ziyang Chen, Ting Chen, Yatang Lin, Jin Wang, Jun 04, 2025Amid debates around state-led urbanization in developing countries, we analyze the causes and consequences of China’s skyscraper boom. We find that local governments often subsidize these projects through discounted land prices, motivated by political incentives. However, we find that such subsidies offer minimal long-term benefits, largely due to a mismatch with local conditions.
Fiscal Stimulus, Deposit Competition, and the Rise of Shadow Banking: Evidence from China
Viral V. Acharya, Jun Qian, Yang Su, Zhishu Yang, Apr 24, 2024The article reveals that the rise of shadow banking in China stems from the intensification of deposit competition after the global financial crisis, and analyzes the threat of small and medium-sized banks' disadvantage in this competition to the overall financial system.
Social Media Engagement Increases Government Action, Decreases Pollution
Mark Buntaine, Michael Greenstone, Guojun He, Mengdi Liu, Shaoda Wang, Bing Zhang, Dec 14, 2022In China, citizen participation in environmental governance via social media could significantly improve regulatory effort, leading to substantial environmental benefits.
Digital Distractions with Peer Influence: The Impact of Mobile App Usage on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes
Panle Jia Barwick, Siyu Chen, Chao Fu, Teng Li, Jan 08, 2025We present the first comprehensive evidence of how app usage affects academic performance and early career outcomes. App usage is contagious: a one standard deviation (around 3.5 hours per day) increase in roommates’ app usage raises an individual’s own app usage by 5.8%, with substantial heterogeneity across students. A one standard deviation increase in app usage reduces GPAs by 36.2% of a within-cohort-major standard deviation and lowers wages by 2.3%. The effect of roommates’ app usage is over half the size of an individual’s own usage effect. High-frequency GPS data reveal that high app usage crowds out time in study halls and increases late arrivals at and absences from lectures.
Exporting like China: The Determinants of Trade Status
Russell Cooper, Guan Gong, Guanliang Hu, Ping Yan, Feb 03, 2021We study the export decision of Chinese manufacturing firms, both public and privately owned enterprises. In 2019, China’s exports of goods accounted for 13% of goods exported in the world and around 20% of China’s GDP. The importance of understanding the determinants of trade patterns in China goes beyond its national borders. Observed export decisions contradict the prediction of the standard trade model...
