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on China |
| By: | Brandt, Loren (University of Toronto); Siow, Aloysius (University of Toronto); Vogel, Carl (affiliation not available) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides non-parametric estimates of the total effects of famine in China on marital behavior of famine affected cohorts in rural areas of Sichuan and Anhui. The reduced form estimates incorporate general equilibrium and heterogeneous treatment effects, two important components of equilibrium marital behavior. Next the paper uses a structural model of the marriage market to decomposed observed marital outcomes into quantity and quality effects. The structural estimates show that the famine reduced the marital attractiveness of the famine-born cohort. The conclusion is that the small observed changes in marriage rates of the famine born cohort are due to a significant decline in marital attractiveness. |
| Keywords: | marriage market, famine |
| JEL: | J12 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4243&r=cna |
| By: | Heywood, John S. (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee); Siebert, W. Stanley (University of Birmingham, UK); Wei, Xiangdong (Lingnan University) |
| Abstract: | The determinants of worker job satisfaction are estimated using a representative survey of three major cities in China. Legally segregated migrants, floaters, earn significantly less than otherwise equivalent non-migrants but routinely report greater job satisfaction, a finding not previously reported. We confirm a positive role for membership in the communist party but find that it exists only for non-migrants suggesting a club good aspect to membership. In contrast to earlier studies, many controls mirror those found in western democracies including the "paradox of the contented female worker." |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction, internal migrants, party membership, China |
| JEL: | J28 J61 O17 D73 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4254&r=cna |
| By: | Gagnon, Jason; Xenogiani, Theodora; Xing, Chunbing |
| Abstract: | The rapid and massive increase in rural-to-urban worker flows to the coast of China has drawn recent attention to the welfare of migrants working in urban regions, particularly to their working conditions and pay; serious concern is raised regarding pay discrimination against rural migrants. This paper uses data from a random draw of the 2005 Chinese national census survey to shed more light on the discrimination issue, by making comparisons of earnings and the sector of work between rural migrants on one hand, and urban residents and urban migrants on the other. Contrary to popular belief, we find no earnings discrimination against rural migrants compared to urban residents. However, rural migrants are found to be discriminated in terms of the sector in which they work, with a vast majority working in the informal sector lacking adequate social protection. |
| Keywords: | Migration; China; Discrimination; Informal Employment |
| JEL: | O15 J71 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:16109&r=cna |
| By: | Yin-Wong Cheung (University of California, Santa Cruz); XingWang Qian (SUNY, Buffalo State College) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the empirical determinants of China¡¦s outward direct investment (ODI). It is found that China¡¦s investments in developed and developing countries are driven by different sets of factors. Subject to the differences between developed and developing countries, there is evidence that a) both market seeking and resources seeking motives drive China¡¦s ODI, b) the Chinese exports to developing countries induce China¡¦s ODI, c) China¡¦s international reserves promote its ODI, and d) the Chinese capital tends to agglomerate among developed economies but diversify among developing economies. Similar results are obtained using alternative ODI data. We do not find substantial evidence that China invests in African and oil-producing countries mainly for their natural resources. |
| Keywords: | Market Seeking, Resources Seeking, Servicing Exports, International Reserves, Agglomeration Effect |
| JEL: | F21 F36 O53 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hkm:wpaper:172009&r=cna |
| By: | Johansson, Anders C. (China Economic Research Center) |
| Abstract: | It is commonly argued that China's financial markets are effectively insulated from the rest of the world. To see if this is true and to better understand China's financial development, we analyze China's integration with major financial markets. Using conditional copulas, we show that China has experienced an increasing level of integration with several major financial markets during the last decade, even though the country's financial markets are commonly seen as being insulated. Furthermore, the level of integration has increased with several major markets during the current financial crisis. The results and possible reasons for the increasing integration are analyzed and the implications for policymakers and market participants are discussed. |
| Keywords: | China; financial market integration; codependence; copula |
| JEL: | F30 G15 |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hacerc:2009-010&r=cna |
| By: | Ljungwall, Christer (China Economic Research Center); Gao, Xu (World Bank, China Group, Beijing Office) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the sources of business cycle fluctuations in China and India since 1978/81. Under the framework of a standard neoclassical open economy model with time-varying frictions (wedges), we study the relative importance of efficiency, labor, investment and government consumption wedges on the business cycle phenomenon. This enables us to contrast and compare the two countries’ experience in a way remarkably different from previous studies. The results for both China and India show that efficiency wedge is the main source of economic fluctuations, while the investment wedge and government consumption wedge played minor roles in generating business cycles. |
| Keywords: | Business cycle fluctuations; Business cycle accounting; China; India |
| JEL: | E32 E37 O47 O53 |
| Date: | 2009–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hacerc:2009-007&r=cna |
| By: | Yin-Wong Cheung (University of California, Santa Cruz); Menzie D. Chinn (University of Wisconsin, Madison, NBER); Eiji Fujii (University of Tsukuba) |
| Abstract: | We examine whether the Chinese exchange rate is misaligned and how Chinese trade flows respond to the exchange rate and to economic activity. We find, first, that the Chinese currency, the renminbi (RMB), is substantially below the value predicted by estimates based upon a cross-country sample, when using the 2006 vintage of the World Development Indicators. The economic magnitude of the misalignment is substantial ¡V on the order of 50 percent in log terms. However, the misalignment is typically not statistically significant, in the sense of being more than two standard errors away from the conditional mean. However, this finding disappears completely when using the most recent 2008 vintage of data; then the estimated undervaluation is on the order of 10 percent. Second, we find that Chinese multilateral trade flows respond to relative prices ¡V as represented by a trade weighted exchange rate ¡V but the relationship is not always precisely estimated. In addition, the direction of the effects is sometimes different from what is expected a priori. For instance, Chinese ordinary imports actually rise in response to a RMB depreciation; however, Chinese exports appear to respond to RMB depreciation in the expected manner, as long as a supply variable is included. In that sense, Chinese trade is not exceptional. Furthermore, Chinese trade with the United States appears to behave in a standard manner ¡V especially after the expansion in the Chinese manufacturing capital stock is accounted for. Thus, the China-US trade balance should respond to real exchange rate and relative income movements in the anticipated manner. However, in neither the case of multilateral nor bilateral trade flows should one expect quantitatively large effects arising from exchange rate changes. And, of course, these results are not informative with regard to the question of how a change in the RMB/USD exchange rate would affect the overall US trade deficit. Finally, we stress the fact that considerable uncertainty surrounds both our estimates of RMB misalignment and the responsiveness of trade flows to movements in exchange rates and output levels. In particular, the results for trade elasticities are sensitive to econometric specification, accounting for supply effects, and for the inclusion of time trends. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hkm:wpaper:142009&r=cna |