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Has COVID-19 permanently changed the nature of economic shocks on the Chinese economy?

Kaiji Chen, Patrick Higgins, Tao Zha, Apr 10, 2024

In latest study, Kaiji Chen and his colleagues at Emory University investigated the impact of COVID-19 on the Chinese economy. Through the construction of a GDP expenditure dataset and the application of SVAR modeling, they found that the constrained consumption shock during the pandemic significantly affected China's economy and may potentially alter its economic shock nature permanently.

Environmentally Inclined Politicians and Local Environmental Performance:Evidence from Publicly Listed Firms in China

Hanming Fang, Honglin Ren, Danwen Song, Nianhang Xu, May 31, 2023

We investigate whether and how environmentally inclined politicians (EIPs), i.e., politicians with prior environment-related work experience, affect local environmental performance in China.

Employee Output Response to Stock Market Wealth Shocks

Teng Li, Wenlan Qian, Wei A. Xiong, Xin Zou, Sep 27, 2023

Exploiting individual-level data linking worker performance and stock investment, we show that a 10% increase in stock investment returns is associated with a decrease in the same investor’s work output by 3.8% in the following month.

Overpricing in Municipal Bond Markets and the Unintended Consequences of Regulatory Measures: Evidence from China

Laura Xiaolei Liu, Qiao Liu, Xiaoyu Liu, Ni Zhu, Dec 03, 2024

Chinese municipal bonds are considerably overpriced in the primary market, leading regulators to set a lower bound on the issuance yield spread. This paper investigates the underlying reasons for this overpricing and evaluates the effects of implementing restrictions on yield spreads. Our findings indicate that underwriters may inflate prices to receive undisclosed benefits from local governments, such as local treasury cash deposits. We further show that the lower bounds severely impede price discovery in the primary municipal bond market. Even bonds not restricted by the lower limit are priced at the reference spread, exacerbating overpricing of riskier bonds. Local governments exploit these fixed prices by increasing the bond issuance amount and extending bond maturity. Our findings suggest that regulatory interference in pricing can have unintended consequences for pricing efficiency and that attempts to rectify mispricing may result in even more severe mispricing.

Labor Market Discrimination against Family Responsibilities: A Correspondence Study with Policy Change in China

Haoran He, Sherry Xin Li, Yuling Han, Jan 24, 2024

China shifted its controversial one-child policy (1979–2015) to a two-child policy in 2016. We take advantage of the unexpected timing of this policy change and the heterogeneities in the pre-change environment to investigate labor market discrimination against expected family responsibilities.