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The Value of Big Data in a Pandemic

Kairong Xiao, May 05, 2021

This article summarizes a study of the economic and public health effects of the Health Code app in China. By exploiting the staggered implementation of this technology across 322 Chinese cities, this study finds that the Health Code app significantly reduced virus transmission and facilitated economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic. A macroeconomic susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model calibrated to the micro-level estimates shows...

Fertility and Delayed Migration: How Son Preference Protects Young Girls Against Mother–Child Separation

Zibin Huang, Xu Jiang, Ang Sun, Aug 14, 2024

In rural China, the son preference paradoxically reduces the likelihood of early mother-child separation for girls, while boys are more prone to such separation.

Environmentally Inclined Politicians and Local Environmental Performance:Evidence from Publicly Listed Firms in China

Hanming Fang, Honglin Ren, Danwen Song, Nianhang Xu, May 31, 2023

We investigate whether and how environmentally inclined politicians (EIPs), i.e., politicians with prior environment-related work experience, affect local environmental performance in China.

Cash in the Darkness

Haohan Ren, Kemin Wang, Bohui Zhang, Fan Zhang, Jan 12, 2024

Relying on a large dataset on cash withdrawals of over 165 million bank cards from China, we find a higher ratio of cash withdrawals late at night is associated with criminal activity.

Window Dressing in the Public Sector: Evidence from China’s Compulsory Education Promotion Program

Hanming Fang, Chang Liu, Li-An Zhou, Nov 15, 2023

We document public-sector window dressing behavior in China’s Compulsory Education Promotion Program during the 1990s. Window-dressing behavior has been well-documented in various organizations when an agent faces high-stakes incentives.