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...

In this paper, I examine the effects of China's civil examination system (keju) on modern-day innovation and firm dynamics. Using the variation in the density of jinshi (the highest exam qualification) and using the distance to the printing ingredients (pine and bamboo) as the instrumental...

Government intervention and firm dynamics are crucial for long-run growth. In this paper, we study the persistent effects of one of the largest state-led industrialization projects in human history---namely the Third-Front (TF) construction project---on firm dynamics: entry, exit, and...

We study the effects of state-owned enterprise (SOE) privatization on political distrust and social unrest in China. Exploiting variations in geography, time, and life-cycle stage induced by the influential 1998-2002 SOE reform and instrumental variable estimation, we document that working-age...

We (re)evaluate the general-equilibrium effects of (environmental) policies from the perspectives of input-output networks and firm dynamics. Using China's carbon emission trading system (ETS) as an example, we find that ETS leads to more patent applications, especially the ones associated with...

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, exit (extensive margin), and their...

In this paper, I study the effects of hometown favoritism on intercity investments in China, or more specifically, whether and how local government officials will bring more investments from their hometown to their workplace. In generalized difference-in-differences specifications, I find that...