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When History Matters Little: Political Hierarchy and Regional Development in China, AD 1000-2000

Ying Bai, Ruixue Jia, Jan 09, 2019

Regime changes in China between AD 1000 and 2000 systematically altered the relative importance of different regions in the political hierarchy of that time. The evolution of Chinese provincial capitals and economic activities during this period throws light on how political factors shape economic geography. Employing a panel dataset...

Chinese and Indian Multinationals: Do Their Shopping Sprees in Advanced Countries Make Them More Innovative?

Vito Amendolagine, Elisa Giuliani, Arianna Martinelli, Roberta Rabellotti, Nov 14, 2018

Chinese and Indian multinationals are continuously expanding their operations in Europe and the United States through cross-border acquisitions (CBAs), with the aim of tapping into international knowledge located in target firms and innovative hubs. Amendolagine, Giuliani, Martinelli, and Rabellotti have looked into impacts that CBAs have on...

Can Credit Still Prop Up the Chinese Economy?

Sophia Chen, Lev Ratnovski, Feb 28, 2018

Recent IMF research explores the effectiveness of credit in supporting the Chinese economy, and compares it with the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus. The study finds that credit contributed positively to output growth in China in the early 2000s, but the effect fell to almost zero post-2010. This suggests that, at present, credit cannot effectively support further growth of the Chinese economy. In contrast, the estimated fiscal multiplier is 1.4 post-2010, which is high in international and historic comparisons. Therefore, a targeted fiscal stimulus can cushion the adjustment of the Chinese economy to lower credit growth.

BigTech Lending as a New Form of Financial Intermediation

Jon Frost, Leonardo Gambacorta, Yi Huang, Hyun Song Shin, Pablo Zbinden, Jun 19, 2019

BigTech firms, i.e. large technology firms whose primary business is digital services, are entering finance. Their entry into finance started with payments. Increasingly, they have expanded beyond payments into the provision of credit, insurance, and toward savings products, either directly or in partnership with incumbent financial institutions...

The Two-Pillar Policy for the RMB from December 2015 to May 2017

Urban J. Jermann, Bin Wei, Vivian Yue, Aug 16, 2017

We document that since December 2015 the People’s Bank of China (PBC) has followed a “two-pillar” exchange rate policy that aims to achieve both stability and flexibility. Based on a no-arbitrage model and options price data we estimate the credibility of the policy as well as its impact on the RMB/USD exchange rate. The model was able to correctly forecast the end of the two-pillar policy in May 2017.