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...

In this paper, I study the effects of corruption on firm innovation, using a data set that covers the registration and patent application records of the universe of firms in China. I provide empirical evidence that corruption significantly deters innovation. Such effects are stronger for...