A Bridge on Economic Issues between China and the World
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Industrial Policy: Lessons from Shipbuilding
Panle Jia Barwick, Myrto Kalouptsidi, Nahim Bin Zahur, Dec 18, 2024The article discusses that although China's industrial policy (IP) in the shipbuilding industry significantly increased domestic shipbuilding production and global market share, it had limited effects on improving domestic welfare and led to inefficient allocation of resources.
Bilateral Economies of Scope in International Trade
Yao Amber Li, Sichuang Xu, Stephen R. Yeaple, Tengyu Zhao, Jan 15, 2025This paper presents evidence that firms’ export and import decisions within the same foreign market are complementary, due to bilateral economies of scope that allow substantial cost savings when engaging in both activities. By quantifying these savings through a structural model, we show that bilateral economies of scope significantly enhance firms’ participation in international trade and amplify the effects of trade liberalization, offering new insights for policymakers and researchers.
High-Speed Rail and China's Electric Vehicle Adoption Miracle
Hanming Fang, Ming Li, Long Wang, Yang Yang, Mar 19, 2025We investigate whether high-speed rail (HSR) connectivity influences electric vehicle (EV) adoption, using a quasi-natural experiment from China’s HSR expansion and several identification strategies. Our findings consistently show that, by alleviating range anxiety, the expansion of HSR can account for up to one third of the increase in EV market share and EV sales in China during our sample period from 2010 to 2023, with effects particularly pronounced in cities served by faster HSR lines. These results suggest that transportation infrastructure can play a complementary role in accelerating the transition to electric mobility.
How Do Firms Withstand Global Economic Shocks: Evidence from Within-Firm Responses
Xiao Cen, Vyacheslav Fos, Wei Jiang, Oct 16, 2024The article discusses that the adaptation strategies of American firms against the backdrop of China's industrial policies are as follows: Firstly, they carry out strategic shifts within the American market, avoiding direct competition and turning to upstream and downstream areas of the supply chain; secondly, they redistribute production across national borders by directly establishing production bases in China to fully leverage China's policy advantages. These strategies demonstrate the strategic flexibility and strong adaptability of American firms in the face of global economic shocks.
Input-Trade Liberalization, Female Skill Intensity, and Fertility in China
Feng Chen, Renliang Liu, Miaojie Yu, Apr 09, 2025The interplay between trade liberalization and demographic behavior illuminates the challenges of reconciling career and family. This paper examines how gender-specific trade liberalization influences fertility, leveraging a Bartik-style shift-share instrumental variable strategy that incorporates female skill intensity into input tariff exposure. We find that input-trade liberalization significantly reduces fertility, particularly among highly educated women, private sector employees, and first-time mothers—groups experiencing the steepest career-family trade-offs. Mechanism analysis shows that enhanced labor market prospects raise the opportunity cost of childbearing, delaying or reducing family formation. These findings underscore the socioeconomic implications of trade policy for demographic trends.
