Industrial policy is increasingly implemented worldwide, with many policymakers and researchers highlighting its benefits (Juhász et al. 2024). However, the cost of industrial policy remains less understood. Using Chinese firm-level data, we show that higher industrial subsidies raise the likelihood and severity of foreign anti-dumping and countervailing duties at each investigation stage (Feng et al. 2025). These retaliatory tariffs wipe out roughly a quarter of the firm revenue growth the subsidies would otherwise create. Neglecting this channel may lead governments to overstate the net benefits of industrial policy and fuels deeper trade frictions and geoeconomic fragmentation.
We provide the first empirical evidence on how media-driven narratives influence cross-border institutional investment flows. Applying natural language processing techniques to 1.5 million newspaper articles, we document substantial cross-country variation in sentiment and risk indices constructed from domestic media narratives about China in 15 countries. These narratives significantly affect portfolio flows, even after controlling for macroeconomic and financial fundamentals. This impact is smaller for investors with greater familiarity or private information about China and larger during periods of heightened uncertainty. Political and environmental narratives are as influential as economic narratives. Investors react more sharply to negative narratives than positive ones.
Government transparency helps bridge gaps between environmental laws and actual practices, improving health and environmental quality broadly.
This article discusses that patriotism could be an alternative source of trust in government and financial institutions, particularly during challenging times.
The article discussess that China's policy reform of integrating counties into larger prefecture-level divisions (che xian she qu) significantly promoted regional economic specialization, reduced interregional market barriers, and played a crucial role in driving economic growth.The article discussess that China's policy reform of integrating counties into larger prefecture-level divisions (che xian she qu) significantly promoted regional economic specialization, reduced interregional market barriers, and played a crucial role in driving economic growth.