A Bridge on Economic Issues between China and the World
Facebook 
Twitter 
Instagram
WeChat 
Email Most Popular
The Unintended Consequences of Regulation: Evidence from China’s Interbank Market
Xian Gu, Lu Yun, Jun 12, 2019Financial regulation can have unanticipated consequences in the financial system. The evidence from China’s interbank market shows that banks tend to use newly introduced and lightly regulated financial instruments to get around regulation during their search for funds. Banks facing greater competition or higher liquidity shortages have more incentives to engage in such activities. Such interbank activities are closely associated with banks’ proprietary trading, suggesting the potential risk of financial contagion.
Unequal Transition: The Widening Wealth Gap amidst China’s Rapid Growth
Yangtian Jiang, Yu Zheng, Lijun Zhu, Nov 08, 2023We examine the drivers of rising wealth inequality in urban China since 1995. We highlight the intertwined nature of growth and equity during China’s transition toward a market-oriented economy.
English Language Requirements and Educational Inequality in China
Hongbin Li, Lingsheng Meng, Kai Mu, Shaoda Wang, May 29, 2024The introduction of the English listening test in the NCEE has exacerbated educational inequality between urban and rural areas in China, thereby affecting the college admission prospects and future income of rural students.
How the Internet Changed Chinese Exports before Ali Baba Came
Ana M. Fernandes, Aaditya Mattoo, Huy Nguyen, Marc Schiffbauer, May 16, 2018The roll-out of the internet in China boosted firms’ exports and overall performance even before the rise of broadband and major e-commerce platforms. This finding is relevant for the many developing countries trying to strike a balance between widening access to basic internet services and deepening it through the creation of broadband networks and connections to major e-commerce platforms.
The “Trusted-assistant” Loan in Nineteenth Century China
Meng Miao, Guanjie Niu, Thomas Noe, Nov 08, 2017In this paper, we analyze “trusted-assistant loans,” which were loans issued (typically) by Shanxi Banks during the Qing period to finance newly appointed scholar-officials. Even though creditors lacked legal rights and, in fact, lacked every repayment enforcement mechanism advanced by economic contract theory, repayment rates on these loans were relatively high and they constituted a large and profitable portion of many banks’ loan portfolios. This paper develops a theory of “resource-based” debt contract enforcement that rationalizes repayment and tests the hypothesis of this theory using data from scholar-officials’ diaries and nineteenth century Chinese bank records.
