A Bridge on Economic Issues between China and the World
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The Financing of Local Government in China: Stimulus Loans Wane and Shadow Banking Waxes
Zhuo Chen, Zhiguo He, Chun Liu, Jinyu Liu, Jul 05, 2017The shadow banking activities in China surged in 2012-2013. Prof. Zhuo Chen and Prof. Chun Liu from Tsinghua University, Prof. Zhiguo He from Chicago Booth and Prof. Jinyu Liu from the University of International Business and Economics provide empirical evidence showing that the “barbarian growth” of China’s shadow banking during this period constitute a “hangover effect” from the four trillion RMB stimulus package in 2009.
Centralization or Decentralization? The Evolution of State-Ownership in China
Franklin Allen, Junhui Cai, Xian Gu, Jun Qian, Linda Zhao, Wu Zhu, Apr 05, 2023We developed an SOE index for all 40 million firms in China from 1990 to 2017 based on the dynamic EquiNet. This quantitative index is solely based on equity investments and thus clears up the mysteries of other self-report measures.
Subways and Road Congestion
Yizhen Gu, Chang Jiang, Junfu Zhang, Ben Zou, May 06, 2020In our recent work (Gu et al., 2019), we combine a difference-in-differences approach with a novel road speed dataset from Baidu Maps to provide evidence on the effect of subways on road congestion. We explore heterogeneous effects with respect to road characteristics. Guided by a conceptual framework of transportation mode choices, we shed light on the welfare impact of subways, using Beijing as an example.
Omnia Juncta in Uno: Foreign Powers and Trademark Protection in Shanghai’s Concession Era
Laura Alfaro, Cathy Ge Bao, Maggie X. Chen, Junjie Hong, Claudia Steinwender, Jul 09, 2025Trademarks, which identify the source of goods and services, account for the majority of intellectual property filings worldwide. We investigate how firms adapt to the introduction of trademark institutions by exploring a historical precedent: China’s trademark law of 1923, an unanticipated and disapproved response to end foreign privileges in China.
Is China Becoming a Service Economy?
Xilu Chen, Guangyu Pei, Zheng Song, Fabrizio Zilibotti, Oct 12, 2022We document a process of rapid tertiarization of the Chinese economy since 2005. We estimate total factor productivity through different methodologies and find that productivity has increased faster in services than in the manufacturing sector in recent years.
