This paper explores the role of informal institutions in shaping China's export dynamics by examining dialect diversity as a proxy for regional cultural variation. Extending a heterogeneous firm trade model, we show theoretically that dialect diversity exacerbates market segmentation, which in turn promotes export expansion. Empirical evidence from matched firm-level customs and financial data supports the mechanism. The effect arises not from proactive innovation or competitiveness gains, but from firms' passive adaptation to fragmented domestic markets to avoid costs associated with institutional frictions. The findings underscore the dual role of dialect culture - both as a barrier and as an adaptive force - and highlight the need to balance linguistic unification with cultural preservation to sustain high-quality export growth.
Physical development is a key foundation for early learning, yet the respective roles of physical fitness and outdoor activity remain unclear in under-resourced settings. Using data from 2,371 rural preschoolers in China, this study examined how these two dimensions relate to cognitive outcomes. Regression analyses showed that higher physical fitness was significantly associated with better performance in composite cognition (beta = 0.017, p < 0.01), approaches to learning (beta = 0.015, p < 0.01), and numeracy and concepts (beta = 0.027, p < 0.01). In contrast, outdoor activity displayed narrower, domain-specific associations, with longer duration linked only to approaches to learning (beta = 0.013, p < 0.01). Further analyses indicated that children's health, social functioning, and socio-emotional skills partly explained these associations, suggesting behavioral and adaptive pathways rather than direct physiological mechanisms. The associations between physical fitness and cognitive outcomes were particularly pronounced among children from disadvantaged families, suggesting a potential compensatory effect of physical fitness in less advantaged developmental contexts.
This paper reviews the economic and social consequences of China's fertility policy regime under both strict enforcement and gradual relaxation. Drawing on a unified quantity-quality and time-allocation framework, I derive four implications: strategic fertility adaptation, increased per-child human capital investment, shifts in female labor supply, and macro-level effects through savings, housing, and entrepreneurship. Empirically, fertility ceilings induced underreporting and sex-selective births, raised returns to child quality (especially in advantaged families), and freed women's time for market work, though gender-equity barriers persist. Aggregate consequences include elevated household savings, housing-fertility feedback, and dampened entrepreneurial dynamics. These legacies endure in fertility norms, educational outcomes, and labor dynamics, suggesting that as China confronts sustained low fertility and population aging, future family policy must address both behavioral inertia and institutional frictions inherited from decades of demographic control.
This paper utilizes micro-level data of Chinese manufacturing enterprises, sourced from the National Tax Survey Database (2007-2014), to measure carbon emission efficiency (CEE) for illustrating the stylized facts and identifying firm-level driving factors of CEE. Time-series analysis shows CEE increases during the sample period. Dynamic Olley-Pakes (OP) and logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decompositions indicate that technological innovation effect improves total emission efficiency, while resource allocation and firm exit effects play opposite role. Energy intensity and energy efficiency are primary driving forces of carbon emissions among distinct regions. Cross-sectional analysis finds that approximately 75% of CEE heterogeneity stems from intra-industry differences, with similar CEE provinces clustering spatially (high-high and low-low agglomerations), especially in high-output regions like the Yangtze River Delta. Empirical results show firm size, capital productivity and labor productivity positively correlate with CEE, whereas higher capital-labor ratios and export participation link to lower CEE.
This study examines whether hometown-based business associations (HBAs), as formal social networks, can help firms overcome cross-regional trade barriers. Using data on the top five customers of Chinese listed companies to measure firms' cross-regional trade and leveraging the establishment of HBAs at different time points as an exogenous shock, we construct a multiple-period difference-in-differences model. Our findings reveal that HBAs significantly promote cross-regional trade for hometown firms, increasing their likelihood of entering the market in the province in which they operate by an average of 20.7%. Mechanism analysis suggests that HBAs facilitate cross-regional trade primarily by alleviating information constraints, mitigating market segmentation, and enhancing bilateral trust. Furthermore, HBAs serve as substitutes for informal social networks in facilitating interregional trade. Additional analysis shows that HBAs enhance the stability of firms' cross-regional trade, further reinforcing their economic significance. Our study contributes to the literature on social networks that influence firms' developmental constraints.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide imposed mitigation measures that kept people home to reduce virus transmission. Loneliness due to the measures, anxieties associated with the pandemic, and the lack of outdoor activities led to deteriorated sleep health. This paper investigates the factors associated with sleep time and health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online questionnaires were distributed to residents in Beijing, Wuhan, and Changsha, with 1,901 valid responses. Ordered logistic regressions were used to model sleep attributes. We included indicators of loneliness and social support and analyzed how the perception of COVID-19 vaccination alleviates sleep problems. We conclude that (1) the pandemic affected sleep health, and respondents who lacked emotional support and life companionship had worse sleep health; (2) perception related to vaccination mitigated the impact of the pandemic on sleep; (3) community-wide impacts of COVID-19 also affect sleep health.
This research explores how Entrepreneurs' Green Human Capital (EGHC) influences Corporate Sustainable Environmental Information Disclosure (EID). The findings show that firms with EGHC generally release more environmental data, particularly in non-monetary categories. This positive relationship is largely driven by a strengthened sense of corporate environmental responsibility and awareness. Moreover, this influence exhibits significant differences across entrepreneurs' educational backgrounds and firm characteristics. The study also shows that environmental subsidies and tighter regulations serve to amplify this effect. Importantly, boosting EID through EGHC not only supports environmental goals but also fosters economic growth by increasing environmental spending and encouraging green innovation. Overall, this research sheds light on the internal factors motivating firms toward sustainable green practices and introduces a fresh theoretical perspective on why such green initiatives tend to be enduring. The findings open new avenues for companies aiming to integrate sustainability into their long-term strategies.
This paper examines employment opportunities for bachelor-level business jobs in China using online job postings collected from 51job.com. We focus on two dimensions: breadth, measured by entropy-based indices of job dispersion across industry - occupation groups, and depth, evaluated through residual posted wages. The results reveal substantial variation across majors. Economics, Finance, and postings open to multiple majors exhibit the broadest coverage across industries and occupations, while General Business and Administration and Marketing are much more narrowly concentrated. Accounting and Management fall in between, though with different sources of breadth. Residual wage distributions show that Finance, Marketing, and Economics graduates enjoy stronger earning potential, whereas General Business and Administration and Accounting are skewed toward lower wages, indicating that breadth and depth need not coincide. Skill requirements overlap across majors, but differences in required skills explain little of the wage gaps, highlighting varying returns to similar skills.
We evaluate the economic effects of China's Return-to-Hometown Entrepreneurship (RTH) pilot using county-level VIIRS night-time lights aggregated to the semiannual frequency from 2013 to 2020. Night-time luminosity provides an objective and spatially consistent proxy for county-level economic activity. Exploiting the staggered rollout of the pilot across counties, we implement a multi-period difference-in-differences design with county and time fixed effects and controls. We find that policy exposure significantly increases county brightness. Event-study estimates show no evidence of differential pre-trends and indicate a gradual post-adoption build-up combining a modest immediate rise with persistent subsequent acceleration. The effects are strongest in counties with middle levels of baseline development. Controlling for distance-weighted spillovers from neighboring treated counties leaves the main effect largely unchanged. Overall, the evidence suggests that the RTH pilot strengthened local economic dynamism.
Industrial robot adoption's environmental impact is time-dependent and spatially heterogeneous. Using data from 281 Chinese cities between 2008 and 2023 with STIRPAT models, we find robots significantly reduce total carbon emissions short-to-medium term but become insignificant long-term, while carbon intensity consistently decreases across all horizons. This divergence stems from a rebound effect: efficiency gains are offset by enterprise scale expansion. Mechanism analysis reveals robots promote green innovation and energy structure upgrading. Spatial Durbin models uncover asymmetries: robots reduce total emissions more in neighboring regions than locally due to a siphoning effect whereby advanced automation areas attract high-carbon production from surroundings. In contrast, carbon intensity reductions are stronger locally. Cities in China's new energy demonstration program maintain long-term emission reductions, suggesting clean energy infrastructure mitigates rebound effects. Findings inform policies accounting for temporal dynamics and spatial spillovers.
China's collective forest tenure reform can play a crucial role in advancing low-carbon transformation, enhancing rural livelihoods, and supporting sustainable forest management. By decentralizing governance, the reform empowers local communities to manage forests sustainably, though significant challenges persist. This study evaluates the reform's effectiveness a decade after its formal conclusion in 2010, based on a comprehensive survey conducted by the National School of Development at Peking University across ten representative collective forest regions. Using a multi-stakeholder approach, the study incorporates perspectives from rural households, forestry enterprises, cooperatives, and local government officials. Findings reveal persistent issues, including limited financial incentives, policy inconsistencies, and barriers to scaling sustainable forestry practices. Addressing these challenges is essential to bridge the gap between policy objectives and on-the-ground realities. This paper provides evidence-based recommendations to optimize policy frameworks, improve implementation strategies, and ensure that collective forest tenure reform contributes effectively to China's sustainability and development goals.
Forest conservation remains a major challenge in many developing countries, where institutional barriers contribute to deforestation and persistent poverty. This paper examines a forest tenure reform that devolved forest rights from village collectives to individual households and its impact on forest outcomes. Using two waves of nationwide village and household surveys, satellite imagery on land cover and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and village-level meteorological records over a 10-year period, we evaluate the reform's effects on forest coverage and quality. The results show that transferring tenure rights to households significantly increased forest coverage in villages. However, improvements in forest quality-measured by vegetation density (EVI)-emerge more slowly. The initial expansion of forest area through newly planted trees temporarily lowers average vegetation density, but canopy density increases as trees mature over time.
This paper investigates whether China's collective forest tenure reform reduces rural consumption inequality. Using panel data from three survey waves across seven southern and southeastern provinces, we measure intra-village inequality as the absolute deviation of each household's consumption from the village average and apply inverse probability weighting to correct for sample attrition. Results show that fully transferring forest management rights from collective to household control reduces inequality in daily consumption, housing consumption, and total consumption by 16.0%, 24.3%, and 14.8%, respectively. The reform disproportionately benefits previously disadvantaged households by im proving access to forest resources, expanding income-generating opportunities, and reducing reliance on collective decision-making, thereby narrowing intra-village disparities. These findings provide new evidence that decentralizing land tenure can enhance rural equity and offer policy implications for forest-rich developing countries seeking to promote both social stability and inclusive rural development through tenure reforms.
This paper investigates the impact of China's second round of forest tenure reforms on rural household labor allocation and migration. Using panel data from 1,210 households across five provinces, we analyze household decisions regarding labor allocation to forestry, agriculture, and off-farm employment. Results show strong evidence that secure forest tenure increases household labor devoted to forestry and modestly encourages return migration, particularly during the 2008-09 financial crisis. Evidence for the safety net function of forests is mixed, with benefits concentrated among better educated households. These findings highlight both the opportunities and limitations of forest tenure reform in addressing rural underemployment, moderating migration pressures, and providing welfare support during economic stress. The study contributes to broader debates on tenure reform, rural development, and the socioeconomic role of forests in developing countries.
This paper uses a collective decision model framework to analyze the outcomes of China's forest tenure reform. The reform essentially allows redistribution of residual clamant rights over collective owned forests, through a bargaining process between two groups, the village elites and the ordinary farmers. We specify a set of distribution factors which determine bargaining powers for the respective groups, which in turn determine the final outcomes of the reform. Using data collected through two rounds of nationwide surveys, we identify that community level social capital, policy transparency, and farmers' outside options, along with other socio-economic conditions, are critical to determine ordinary villagers' share of forestland, while the long-term established authority and managerial ability of the village leaders, etc. are strong determining factors for the share of forestland remained under collective leadership control. Policy implications point to the need for regular and high-quality village election, if policy makers would like to see greater decentralization of forest tenure in rural society.
This paper assesses whether the China - Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) makes economic sense for Pakistan, the extent of its progress, and how its developmental benefits can be maximized. Using a mixed-methods approach - including primary document analysis, 30 field visits in China and Pakistan, 144 interviews, and a survey of 209 respondents - it examines the structural reasons behind the slow industrial take-off of CPEC's Special Economic Zones. Applying the Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework of New Structural Economics, the study finds that while CPEC has delivered significant gains in energy and infrastructure connectivity, Pakistan has yet to fully leverage its comparative advantages. China emerges as an effective lead country whose experience can support Pakistan's industrial upgrading. The paper argues that Pakistan must reorient CPEC toward sectoral prioritization, targeted industrial collaboration, and better alignment with its factor endowments to achieve sustained structural transformation.
We examine how Africa can expand its agri-food exports to China by assessing two policy levers: tariff reduction and improvements in sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) procedures. Despite rapid growth in China's import demand, Africa's market share remains limited. Using a combination of historical trade forecasts, a GTAP simulation of a zero-tariff scenario, and product-level estimates of gains from streamlined SPS approvals, we find a clear pattern. Tariff liberalization yields only modest trade growth, while SPS improvements-particularly those reducing fixed entry costs and accelerating approvals-generate substantially larger gains and enable new African products to enter the Chinese market. A continent-wide survey of African authorities corroborates these results, citing long approval timelines, communication difficulties, and capacity constraints. Overall, zero tariffs can help, but sustained export growth depends primarily on clearer, more predictable, and more efficient SPS procedures.
The Additional School Grant Budget (ASGB) is a performance-based school funding program launched by the Ethiopian government in 2016 to enhance school quality and student retention. This paper examines its impact on student academic achievement and school performance in Southern Ethiopia using data on grade eight students from 654 schools between 2015/16 and 2020/21. Using difference-in-differences and propensity score matching, we find that students in ASGB schools achieved higher Primary School Leaving Certificate Examination composite scores (by 1.5%) than their counterparts in non-ASGB schools, with more pronounced improvements in English, mathematics, and physics. Further analysis suggests these gains are driven by improved school facilities, safer learning environments, and increased parental participation. Despite these gains, average scores remain below the national pass mark. Overall, the results suggest that while increased funding improves outcomes, sustained progress requires complementary reforms in teaching, stakeholder engagement, and system-level monitoring, offering insights for developing countries.
