This article investigates the effects of the securities transaction tax (STT) on market trading volume and return volatility using Chinese data. We found strong evidence to support a negative relationship between STT and market trading volume. The shrinking of the tax base casts doubt on the...

This paper discusses pension system reforms in China and Russia. Before the reforms, both countries had pay-as-you-go pension systems, with limited coverage, inequality across sectors, lack of portability, and unsustainable financing. Pension reforms, begun in China in 1984 and Russia in 1997,...

Since the late 1970s, many employees of state-owned enterprises have been laid off, and more and more rural people have migrated to urban areas. Many laid-off and migrant workers have become the urban poor. This paper discusses the general situation of the urban poor in China by examining how...

In an environment of rapid economic development with rising incomes, escalating motorization, and growing urbanization, it is natural that government policies focus on solving congestion-related problems caused by increased car ownership and usage. The mobility needs of the urban poor have...

One of the by-products of economic reforms is the unprecedented number of floating population from rural to urban areas. These rural migrants have become a new class that experiences "institutionalized exclusion" in their adoptive cities in areas including housing, work, and social entitlements....

Using data collected from a survey of 1,622 relatively low-income households in Changsha in January 2007, this paper compares gender disparities in employment and disposable income among the relatively poor urban population in China. We found that although there is no difference in the...

A recent data set from the city of Changsha is used to estimate the impact of social support programs on employment for low-income urban workers in China. The Chinese urban household registration system i(hukou),/i which determines whether an individual is eligible for social support programs,...