Multinationals play a crucial role in international knowledge diffusion. Using comprehensive patent data, we document: (1) multinational affiliates and their foreign parent firms comprise a significant portion of patents filed with China’s patent office; and (2) there are subsequent transfers...

We build a multi-sector spatial general equilibrium model to account for China’s export surge between 1990 and 2005. We focus on the role of the reductions in tariffs and internal migration costs during that period. Our model generates a closed-form aggregate trade elasticity that can be...

Trade openness can affect welfare through changes in workers’ skill acquisition. We develop a multisector Eaton–Kortum model, in which skill intensities and on-the-job learning opportunities are heterogeneous across sectors. Workers decide whether to become skilled before entering the labor...

China has expanded the yearly quota on newly admitted college students by more than 7 times since 1999. How did this massive college expansion affect firms’ export and innovation choices? I document that after this expansion impacted the labor market, Chinese manufacturing firms’ innovation...

This paper studies how trade openness affects welfare through changes in workers’ skill acquisition. We first document that on-the-job training participation varies largely across sectors and that schooling investments are complementary to on-the-job learning. Thus, trade openness impacts...

Flood events and flood risk have been increasing in the past few decades and have important consequences on the economy. Using county-level and ZIP-code-level data during 1998–2018 from the U.S., we document that (1) increased flood risk has large negative impacts on firm entry, employment and...

Export activity shapes workers’ experience-wage profiles. Using detailed Brazilian manufacturing employer-employee and customs data, we document that workers’ experience-wage profiles are steeper at exporters than at non-exporters. Aside from self-selection of more capable firms into...

We built a multi-sector spatial general equilibrium model, featuring heterogeneous firms’ and workers’ location choices, to account for China’s export surge between 1990 and 2005 from three policy changes: China’s import tariffs, tariffs imposed against China’s exports, and barriers to...

This paper studies the impact of trade openness on welfare through alterations in workers' skill acquisition. We integrate endogenous choices of learning investments into a multisector Eaton-Kortum model. In the model, workers can opt to become skilled through education and further enhance their...

Multinationals play a crucial role in international knowledge diffusion. Given the recent concern that multinationals are departing China, understanding the importance of multinationals for China's technology is also particularly policy-relevant. Using comprehensive patent data from China, we...