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Does External Monitoring from the Government Improve the Performance of State-Owned Enterprises?

Shengyu Li, Hongsong Zhang, Nov 03, 2021

We investigate the impact of external monitoring from the government on state-owned enterprise performance, using the variation in monitoring strength arising from a nationwide policy change and firms’ geographic location in China. We utilize a structural approach to estimate input prices and productivity separately at the firm level using commonly available production data. We show that...

Does ESG Travel around the World? Evidence from Multinational Firms in China

Dongxu Li, Xiaoxue Hu, Oct 20, 2021

Using a sample of 3,770 Chinese listed firms during 2015–2020, we find that firms’ ESG ratings increase with foreign sales ratios. The higher-rated multinationals have more foreign subsidiaries located in countries with better ESG conditions, and their equity shares are held to a greater extent by institutional investors, especially by foreign institutions. The multinationals’ higher ESG ratings can be justified by...

Improving Regulation for Innovation: Evidence from China’s Pharmaceutical Industry

Ruixue Jia, Xiao Ma, Jianan Yang, Yiran Zhang, Mar 06, 2024

In 2015, China revamped its pharmaceutical regulations, drawing inspiration from the US, to accelerate drug approvals. Using data at the drug and firm levels during 2011–2021, this study reveals three key outcomes.

The Quiet Revolution in Women’s Human Capital and the Gender Earnings Gap in the People’s Republic of China

Zhengyang Li, Guochang Zhao, Jul 08, 2020

Since the 1980s, girls’ educational attaintment increased more quickly than boys’. As a result, the gender education gap decreased and even reversed in China. How does the gender earnings gap change in the face of increasing female human capital? What are the implications for the Chinese gender earnings gap in the future? This column will shed light on this interesting topic within and across cohorts.

Government as Venture Capitalists in AI

Martin Beraja, Wenwei Peng, David Yang, Noam Yuchtman, Nov 06, 2024

This article discusses that government venture capital funds in China are more geographically dispersed than private venture capital, particularly in inland and less developed areas, and they are more inclined to invest in AI companies with weaker ex-ante productivity signals.