A Bridge on Economic Issues between China and the World
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Quarters of Birth Matter for Girls: How Agricultural Seasonality Shapes Gender Inequality in China
Xuezheng Qin, Junjian Yi, Haochen Zhang, Oct 08, 2025We find that people born in the fourth quarter tend to have better lifecycle outcomes than others in China. More importantly, this birth quarter effect is significantly larger for females than for males. Such a gendered pattern is likely driven by seasonal variations in household resources induced by agricultural seasonality, which may exert gender-differentiated effects on intrahousehold neonatal investment due to son preference. These findings have meaningful implications for the role of economic development in reducing gender inequality through the (gender-neutral) increase in household resources.
Money or Monitoring: What Motivates Workers in China?
Jing Cai, Sai Luo, Shing-Yi Wang, Sep 17, 2025Higher compensation incentivizes workers to work additional hours and stay at the firm, while increased monitoring enhances work quality but also increases quitting by workers.
Rural Road Stimulus and the Role of Matching Mandates on Economic Recovery in China
Anthony Howell, Oct 30, 2024The findings show that the temporary cost share exemption boosts short-term income growth, increases local investment in infrastructure, and promotes entrepreneurial activities, particularly among returning migrants.
High-Speed Rail and Local Agricultural Development
Xiaoguang Chen, Binlei Gong, Zhilong Qin, Xiaoli Wang, Jan 07, 2026We study China’s extensive high-speed rail (HSR) expansions to address a key policy concern that large-scale transport infrastructure may undermine agriculture and food security. We find that HSR expansion facilitates the outflow of labor and land from agriculture, yet does not reduce agricultural output because productivity rises.
From Rural Schools to City Factories: Assessing the Quality of Chinese Rural Schools
Eric A. Hanushek, Le Kang, Xueying Li, Lei Zhang, Jan 21, 2026Rural school quality is low and varies significantly across provinces. We estimate provincial variations in school quality from the labor market returns to years of schooling of interprovincial rural migrants educated in different home provinces but working in the same urban labor market. School quality is higher and provincial variation is lower for younger cohorts, indicating at least partial effectiveness of recent policies aimed at improving the quality of rural schools.
