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...

In this paper, we examine how social networks among political leaders matter for state capacity. Using a unique data set covering the government work reports of city and central governments, we find that city leaders with hometown connections with Politburo Standing Committee Members implement...

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...

In this paper, I study a principal-multiagent model in which the principal adopts relative performance evaluation (RPE) as the compensation scheme, and agents are connected in an information network. The ability of each agent is private information, but adjacent agents in the information network...

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...

I study how environmental regulation, or the COD reduction mandates during Chinese eleventh five-year plan (2006-2010), affects firm dynamics: entry, exit, and (aggregate) productivity. While most existing literature on environmental regulation focuses on the effects on incumbent firms...

I study organizations in which agents are connected through a fixed, un-directed, and unweighted network, and work collectively to produce a team output. Besides choosing own effort that contributes directly to the team output, agents can also exert helping effort to their network neighbors so...

In this paper, I study how anti-corruption shocks affect Chinese city leaders through political factions or social networks, or more specifically, how sharing college or workplace connections with government officials who have been investigated for corruption affects the city leaders' economic...