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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.

E vs. G: Environmental Policy and Earnings Management in China

Darwin Choi, Feifei Lai, Mar 12, 2025

We examine the conflict between environmental and governance issues arising from China’s automatic air pollutant monitoring system, introduced in 2012. Our findings suggest that polluting firms engage in downward earnings management to potentially minimize regulatory attention, with factors such as firm size, profitability, and market conditions influencing the extent of this behavior. This study highlights the unintended consequences of environmental policies.

Destination-Specific Export Expansions and Their Impact on Education and Long-Term Outcomes in China

Junsen Zhang, Kang Zhou, Jul 17, 2024

This article discusses that export expansions to wealthy countries significantly increased high school enrollment rates in specific regions and among certain groups in China, but this impact did not translate into an increased prevalence of higher education. Instead, it had long-term effects on employment and fertility outcomes for the affected cohorts.

Does Farming Culture Shape Household Financial Decisions?

Fang Yu, May 01, 2024

This article discussing the collectivist culture from traditional rice farming in China leads households to prefer stock market investments and lottery purchases while reducing their need for insurance. This demonstrates the strong influence of cultural heritage on modern financial decisions and highlights the need to consider cultural factors in financial policy making.The collectivist culture from traditional rice farming in China leads households to prefer stock market investments and lottery purchases while reducing their need for insurance. This demonstrates the strong influence of cultural heritage on modern financial decisions and highlights the need to consider cultural factors in financial policy making.The collectivist culture from traditional rice farming in China leads households to prefer stock market investments and lottery purchases while reducing their need for insurance. This demonstrates the strong influence of cultural heritage on modern financial decisions and highlights the need to consider cultural factors in financial policy making.

Sowing Seeds of Mobility: The Uneven Impact of Land Reform

Ting Chen, Jiajia Gu, Rachel Ngai, Jin Wang, Jul 16, 2025

Land market frictions due to incomplete property rights are a major form of mobility barrier in many developing countries, where rural households risk losing land if they stop cultivating it. This implicit barrier is made explicit through China’s Hukou system. Using two land reforms that reduce these barriers, we construct a novel county-level reform index and argue that these reforms have contributed to improvement in agricultural productivity and have uneven impact across gender. They improve rural women’s transition to non-agriculture relative to rural men, but at the same time, increasing gender gap among the urban population.