This paper investigates Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) of high-tech firms on the Chinese Growth Enterprise Market (GEM). Almost half of the high tech IPOs on the GEM are set up in pyramid structures. The likelihood of a pyramid structure increases with the size of the IPO firm and state...

This paper examines the role of total factor productivity (TFP) in China’s miraculous growth during 1997-2012 and reports that 16% of the GDP growth is driven by the TFP growth, dominated by technological progress. The TFP growth varies significantly across regions and is positively influenced...

This paper provides a first look at the ownership structure in the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) of China which is a new market launched in 2009. By analyzing the unique dataset, I find that 46% of firms in our sample are created through pyramids. I identify the status of ultimate owner of each...

Chinese Abstract: 黑手党产权保护理论在西方影响甚广，其核心是将“黑手党”（Mafia）定义为：生产、销售和分配私人保护的、特殊的有组织犯罪集团。该学派创始人Diego...