In this paper, we study the effects of entry deregulation on firm innovation, using the business registration reform in China as a case in point. Entry deregulation has negative impacts on patent applications, and the effects are more pronounced for larger firms and older firms. Firms spend more...

Why China was not the origin of the Industrial Revolution but rose from imperial dynasties and experienced a growth miracle in the past four decades? We find that its root is China's imperial examination system (keju), which explains the fall and rise of historical, modern, and contemporary...

In this paper, I argue that in situations of complex network dependence, the traditional and widely used Hausman-style instrumental variable estimation may not be valid for causal identification. This is the case for inter-regional migration networks when evaluating place-based labor market...

We study how extreme (high) temperatures affect firm dynamics---entry, exit, and aggregate productivity---in Chinese manufacturing sectors. Existing studies focus on the effects on incumbent firms (intensive margin), while we examine the effects on entry and exit (extensive margin), and their...

In this paper, we document a novel fact that disclosures of public information reshape social dynamics in China. Using the staggered roll-out of a quasi-natural experiment of air pollution information disclosure and a novel high-frequency data set of social and public events, we find...

Using a novel city-level high-frequency panel data set of social and public events in Chinese cities, we document that extreme high temperatures significantly reshape social dynamics. Extreme high temperatures lead to an increase in social cooperation, and the effects are more salient when...

Input-output linkages among sectors and firms are largely overlooked when assessing regulatory policies. Using a carbon emissions regulation in China as an example, we find that the regulation facilitates the transition to green technologies and reduces entry and carbon emissions in the...

This paper establishes a novel argument that social networks among local politicians reduce spatial frictions of corporate investment. We leverage the replacement of city officials and the resulting exogenous variations of hometown ties among city party secretaries to examine their impact on...