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on China |
| By: | Nathaniel Baum-Snow; Loren Brandt; J. Vernon Henderson; Matthew A. Turner; Qinghua Zhang |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of the construction of the national highway system in China on local economic outcomes. The analysis employs three main approaches. The first is based on a structural model of Ricardian trade that provides an explicit description of the general equilibrium effects of changes in the highway network. The second involves reduced form estimates of the casual effects highways, which accommodates the non-random assignment of highways across locations. The third approach is a hybrid of the first two. Technique matters. The structural model suggests that access to domestic markets, but not to export markets, increases economic output. The reduced form estimates suggest the opposite conclusion and also point to the importance of highways in the rise of regional primate cities. These reduced form findings are consistent with export driven growth policies and central or provincial government policies favouring regional primate cities. In addition to informing policy, our results raise concerns about the use of quantitative results from Ricardian trade models in isolation for understanding how and the extent to which infrastructure drives regional growth. |
| Keywords: | construction, China, Ricardian trade models |
| JEL: | F10 N65 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0200&r=cna |
| By: | Mark Hoekstra; Pierre Mouganie; Yaojing Wang |
| Abstract: | Despite strong demand for attending high schools with better peers, there is mixed evidence on whether doing so improves academic outcomes. We estimate the cognitive returns to high school quality using administrative data on a high-stakes college entrance exam in China. To overcome selection bias, we use a regression discontinuity design that compares applicants barely above and below high school admission thresholds. Results indicate that while peer quality improves significantly across all sets of admission cutoffs, the only increase in performance occurs from attending Tier I high schools. Further evidence suggests that the returns to high school quality are driven by teacher quality, rather than peer quality or class size. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I26 J24 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22337&r=cna |
| By: | Shengyuan Zhang (Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology); Jimin Zhao (Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Institute for Emerging Market Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | China has established ambitious CO2 emission reduction targets, and sustainable urban passenger transport is a key to reaching them. Shenzhen, one of China’s leading cities, has the potential to be a model for achieving low-carbon development. Using an Activity Structure–Intensity–Fuel (ASIF) framework and a human-based approach that incorporates individual transport behavior using data from a travel diary survey in Shenzhen in 2014, we model different scenarios for future urban passenger transport energy consumption and CO2 emissions from 2014 to 2050. We find that if Shenzhen successfully constructs urban structures with greater density around the public transportation network, and finds effective ways to restrict vehicle ownership and use (either through mandatory schemes or pricing) while making substantial investments in the walking and cycling environment, it is possible for total urban passenger transport emissions to peak at 4.3 MtCO2 in 2025, and individual emissions would fall by over 65% compared to its 2014 level, reaching 118 kgCO2/person by 2050. |
| Keywords: | ASIF, carbon emissions, energy consumption, urban transportation, scenario analysis, transportation policy |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hku:wpaper:201633&r=cna |
| By: | Ma, Xinxin; Li, Shi |
| Abstract: | This paper conducts two hypotheses testing and provides evidence on the determinants of self-employment for local urban residents and migrants in urban China. Using CHIP2007 and CHIP2013, the employment status is divided into four categories— self-employed employers, own-account workers, employees, and the unemployed. Several major conclusions emerge. First, utilizing the imputed wage premiums, the business creation hypothesis is rejected for both the local urban residents and migrants groups in 2007. However, in 2013, the business creation hypothesis is supported when a worker choice to become a self-employed employer. Whereas the influences of wage premiums on the probability of becoming an own-account worker are negatively significant for both the local urban residents group and the migrants group, so the business creation hypothesis is rejected when a worker choice to become an own-account worker. Second, the choice to become a self-employed employer for the local urban residents group, and the choice to become an own-account worker for the migrants group in the initial economy reform period can gain more benefit, so the business creation hypothesis is supported for older generation group, whereas this hypothesis is rejected for the younger generation group for both the local urban residents and migrants groups. |
| Keywords: | self-employed employer, own-account worker, business creation hypothesis, disguised unemployment hypothesis, urban China |
| JEL: | J23 J31 O17 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hitcei:2016-3&r=cna |
| By: | Carlos Casanova; Alicia Garcia-Herrero |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we look at China-Africa trade links in more detail and evaluate some of the implications of Africa’s growing commodity export dependency on China going forward, particularly in the context of a slowdown in China. |
| Keywords: | Asia , Economic Analysis , Emerging Economies , Regional Analysis , Working Paper |
| JEL: | D51 F02 F14 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1609&r=cna |
| By: | Hovhannisyan, Vardges |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the structure of food demand in urban China based on the most recent household expenditure survey data. Consumer food preferences are represented by an Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) demand model, which accounts for unobserved consumer heterogeneity and allows for arbitrary Engel curve shapes. Further, we account for unobserved province-level heterogeneity in food preferences via province fixed-effects. Our findings indicate that seafood, fruit, and vegetables are income and expenditure elastic, while commodities such as grains and eggs are less than unitary elastic. |
| Keywords: | EASI demand, expenditure endogeneity, price endogeneity, food demand, urban China., Demand and Price Analysis, Q11, Q13, Q17, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236889&r=cna |
| By: | Shengyuan Zhang (Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology); Jimin Zhao (Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Institute for Emerging Market Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology); Albert Park (Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Department of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Institute for Emerging Market Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | In many developing and emerging economies, rapid income growth and changing demographics is leading to heightened demand for energy-intensive urban transportation. This study provides a comprehensive empirical framework for analyzing how income, age, and education influence individual energy use and carbon emissions through multiple dimensions of travel behavior, including number of trips, trip distance, transportation mode choice, vehicle ownership, and fuel economy of cars. Analyzing travel diary survey data collected by the authors in Shenzhen in 2014, we find that energy consumption and carbon emissions increase almost proportionally to income, and that older age and more education increase energy use and carbon emissions substantially, with the relative importance of different channels varying by factor. |
| Keywords: | ASIF, carbon emissions, energy consumption, urban transportation, scenario analysis, transportation policy |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hku:wpaper:201635&r=cna |
| By: | Shaar, Karam; Zubaidi, Ahmad |
| Abstract: | Econometric studies investigating the US-China trade have largely retrieved data from one side only, mainly the US. There is a considerable difference between what each partner claims to have actually traded with the other. In 2013, the US-reported trade deficit with China was $346.3 billion, while the figure stood at $215.7 billion according to China’s reports, which accumulates merely 62% of the former’s claim. To answer the question of which data source is more reliable for research purposes, we assess the dynamic magnitude of the discrepancy for the period 1984-2013 and review the causes behind it. Through grouping the causes into two categories based on the causative factors, this study concludes there is no enough evidence to trust the data of one side more than the other. We highly encourage more in-depth studies to reconcile the data. Researchers who still prefer to utilize unreconciled data are recommended to express more caution. |
| Keywords: | Trade Data Discrepancy, US-China Trade, Econometric analysis, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vuw:vuwecf:5146&r=cna |
| By: | Tuhkuri, Joonas |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between globalization and innovation. To do so, it draws from data that match the full population of workers and private-sector firms in Finland tracking them from 1995 to 2009. To correct for endogeneity the paper considers variation in trade exposure from China during its entry to the world market using a fixed effects model. While the literature on trade and innovation has emphasized the role of firms in driving onshore innovation, the main conclusion of this research is that globalization increases the share of innovators within firms. |
| Keywords: | Trade, Innovation, China, Employment |
| JEL: | F14 F16 J24 L60 L24 |
| Date: | 2016–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:wpaper:39&r=cna |