People

  • 详情 Local Travel Dynamics Surrounding the Zero-Covid Policy and Reopening in China
    As China’s Zero-COVID policy has come to an end and travel restrictions have been removed, the country’s mobility patterns are very likely to become more heterogeneous than during the pandemic. Human mobility is a key mechanism through which economic activities emerge and viruses spread. It can bring both advantages and challenges to cities with different characteristics. This paper investigates intra-city mobility trajectories of 368 Chinese cities within a non-linear time-varying latent factor framework to uncover the evolution of heterogeneity in local travel behavior amidst that China has been approaching the turning point of the post-pandemic new normal. To this end, we compiled a novel panel on a weekly basis, using the latest Baidu Mobility Data and the risk-level data released by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. We further examine the effects of exposure to high COVID-19 risk in the city on commuting behavior between May 17, 2021 and June 26, 2022. Our results provide stylized facts on stratified local travel across China: first, the 368 cities can be categorized into six clusters based on their mobility dynamics, and second, the gaps in intra-city mobility tend to narrow within each cluster but widen between different clusters. Moreover, exposure to high COVID-19 risk has a stronger impact on home-workplace commuting rates than on dining-, leisure, and recreational travel rates, persistently dampening commuting behavior. In addition, divisions in intra-city travel strength and commuting behavior between western regions and the rest of China are evident. In sum, this paper suggests that the daily life and economic activities which depend heavily on human mobility are recovering at different rates across China.
  • 详情 FinTech and Consumption Resilience to Uncertainty Shocks: Evidence from Digital Wealth Management in China
    Developing countries are taking advantage of FinTech tools to provide more people with convenient access to financial market investment through digital wealth management. Using COVID-19 as an uncertainty shock, we examine whether and how digital wealth management affects the resilience of consumption to shocks based on a unique micro dataset provided by a leading Big Tech platform, Alipay in China. We find that digital wealth management mitigates the response of consumption to uncertainty shocks: residents who participate in digital wealth management, especially in risky asset investments, have a lower reduction in consumption. Importantly, digital wealth management helps improve financial inclusion, with a more pronounced mitigation effect among residents with lower-level wealth, living in less developed areas, and those with lower-level conventional finance accessibility. The mitigation effect works through the wealth channel: those who allocate a larger proportion of risky assets in their portfolio and obtain a higher realized return show more resilience of consumption to negative shocks. We also find that digital wealth management substitutes for conventional bank credit but serves as a complement to FinTech credit in smoothing consumption during uncertainty shocks. Digital wealth management provides a crucial way to improve financial inclusion and the resilience of consumption to shocks.
  • 详情 Metaverse helps Guangzhou's urban governance achieve scientific modernization
    Firstly, the article elaborates on the concepts of metaverse and industrial metaverse, pointing out that the metaverse has driven changes and optimizations in multiple dimensions such as urban form, social organization form, and industrial production form; Secondly, the metaverse has empowered urban governance in Guangzhou, improving the efficiency of urban management, enhancing the city's emergency management capabilities, improving the quality of interaction between people and the city, and promoting the construction of a smart city; Once again, the focus was on the practices and good results achieved by Guangzhou in utilizing blockchain technology, digital twin technology, generative artificial intelligence technology, unmanned aerial vehicles+AI and other technologies in urban governance and serving the public; Finally, it is clarified that metaverse related technologies will promote the integration of carbon based civilization and silicon-based civilization in urban and social governance. Humans can use silicon-based civilization technology to expand their living space and improve their quality of life, while silicon-based civilization can also draw inspiration from the culture and emotions of carbon based life, achieving more comprehensive development.
  • 详情 The Impact of Digital Financial Inclusion on Relative Poverty Among Rural Migrant Population
    With the elimination of absolute poverty and the improvement of the urbanization rate in China's rural areas, the phenomenon of “urbanization of poverty” has become increasingly prominent. Restricted by the influence of the household registration system, sources of livelihood, social capital, etc., the rural migrants are facing higher social exclusion and a stronger sense of relative deprivation, which makes the rural migrant population become the focus and difficulty of relative poverty governance. Based on the data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey, this paper discusses the impact of digital financial inclusion on the relative poverty of the rural migrant population. It is found that the development of digital financial inclusion can significantly reduce the incidence of relative poverty among the rural migrant population. Considering different model settings, relative poverty standards, dimensions of digital financial inclusion and the introduction of the number of banks in 1937 as an instrumental variable, the endogeneity test does not change the conclusion of this paper. Further results showed that digital financial inclusion has a greater relative poverty alleviation effect for traditionally disadvantaged groups such as those with low education levels and the older generation, which is in line with the original intention of the development of digital financial inclusion. Therefore, the paper emphasizes that the improvement of the inclusive financial system can restore power and enhance the financial capacity of the rural migrant population, drive the governance of urban relative poverty with the dual wheels of “financial empowerment and ability enhancement”, stimulate the endogenous motivation of common prosperity, and ultimately achieve “people-oriented urbanization” and common prosperity of the people.
  • 详情 The e-CNY as a Cure for Small and Medium Enterprise Financing Obstacles? Based on Modelling and Simulation of Evolutionary Game Dynamics
    The e-CNY, with its information transparency and financial inclusion, activates an innovative solution to cure the financing obstacles among the small and medium enterprises in China. The research establishes a game model between enterprises and commercial banks embedded in information asymmetry, and incorporates the e-CNY payment choice within the framework to analyse the cure effect of e-CNY on enterprise financing obstacles. With equilibrium results calculated, it simulates the outcomes of changing parameters on the behaviours of enterprises and banks. The findings involve that, based on the incremental utility of e-CNY and subsidies attached, e-CNY is preferred in transaction, reducing the bad debt risk caused by misalignment when both achieving excess returns. The People’s Bank of China must strengthen a more transparent publicity of e-CNY and structure an inclusive system of financial regulation to well use digital currency and realise high-quality socio-economic development.
  • 详情 Not My Money to Touch: Experimental Evidence on Redistributive Preferences Under Market Transition in China
    This paper explores the factors that influence redistributive preferences in the context of significant economic transformation, focusing on the transition premium and growth. Using an online survey experiment with a nationally representative sample from China, we find that priming getting rich via relatively less meritocratic, yet representative ways under market transition in post-reform China reduces redistributive support, specifically for policies that aim to take from the rich and the belief in the government’s duty to redistribute, indicating the presence of a set of fairness views in China that deviate from the conventional meritocratic paradigm. Heterogeneous treatment effects analyses reveal that such non-meritocratic fairness views are a general phenomenon, and self-interest in the form of subjective economic pressure only serves as a secondary concern. While people feel that the rich are more deserving and demand less redistribution regardless of subjective economic pressure, only those under less economic pressure exhibit decreased support for policies that aim to help the poor. These representative ways of getting rich under market transition are similarly fair compared to winning a lottery, far less fair than a self-made entrepreneur, but much more legitimate than acquiring wealth through corruption. Priming China’s growth story does not result in statistically significant changes in redistributive support. Additionally, we rule out the influence of three relevant confounders: low tax salience, preference falsification under authoritarianism, and misperceptions about relative income positions and intergenerational occupational mobility. We argue that such non-meritocratic fairness views are particularly salient in societies that break away from a centrally-planned economic system in the past and transition towards a high-growth market economy, where economic opportunities are becoming more inclusive.
  • 详情 Heterogeneous Returns to Education Across Hukou-Migration Subgroups in China
    This paper uses the China Household Income Project 2018 dataset to estimate returns to education for various Hukou-migration subgroups. We overcome the endogeneity problem of years of schooling using an instrument based on the Great Expansion of Higher Education policy. Our results indicate that the highest returns are for urban native workers (27.4%), followed by urban Hukou-converted (25.0%) and rural native workers (14.7%). In contrast, the returns to education for rural-urban migrant workers are insignificant. Further analyses suggest that Hukou conversion significantly increased the returns to education for rural-origin people by enabling them access to better job opportunities.
  • 详情 An Empirical Study on the Effects of Patent Quantity Policies on Patent Quality in China
    China historically paid more attention to improving patent quantities because policymakers wished to improve the patent qualities by stimulating patent quantities, and it focused on developing invention patents but paid little attention to utility model patents because many people believe that the quality of utility model patents is lower than that of invention patents. Varies studies discussed the issues of patent qualities, but little empirical evidence was developed to show the relationship between patent quantities and patent qualities or prove that the utility model patents’ quality is lower than the invention patents’ quality. An empirical analysis is helpful to find the impact of patent quantities on patent qualities, and comparing it with the impact of R&D investments on patent qualities will show which has a greater impact. By comparing them with invention patents’ quality, the statistical examination on the quality of utility model patents is also meaningful.
  • 详情 A Tale of Two News-implied Linkages: Information Structure, Processing Costs and Cross-firm Predictability
    This paper decomposes news-implied linkages into two types: leader-follower links (LF) and peer links (PE), based on people's reading and information-processing habits. We explore how the structure of information impacts processing costs and subsequently leads to market outcomes by examining momentum spillover effects via these distinct linkage types. Our findings indicate that the information structure of leader-follower links is more readily comprehensible to investors than peer linkages. We provide empirical evidence of this by demonstrating faster attention spillover from leader to follower than among peer firms, using Baidu search data. Furthermore, we document that due to the lower information processing cost, information transmits through the leader-follower linkages more quickly, leading to a weaker momentum spillover effect compared to the more complex and less easily perceivable peer links.
  • 详情 The proposal of New China Climate Changes Prevention Law
    Background and objective:In southern China, in 2021, there have been being in hot Summer in more than 67 cities, counties or areas, with the hot temperature 30 degrees Celsius and more than 30 degrees Celsius with the highest as 34 degrees Celsius.After the Chinese lunar year and the 24 Solar Term, the beginning of winter has passed 5 days. And there have 23 cities, counties or areas which the temperature have reached the highest 34 degrees Celsius. Which all are rare in the weather history in China in the aspects of the highest temperature as 34 degrees Celsius and in large part of southern China in early Winter. As the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the world have been striving for preventing and curing the climate changes. And have been paying special attention to the health impacts by the climate changes. In China, after the history hottest Summer suffered from by the Chinese in 2022. The Chinese have been continuing to suffer from the hottest temperature like Summer in the early winter. So the weather in China is not normal comparing to the post years. And it is sure that the climate changes impacts on Chinese in China in 2022 have been evidenced. As I have been being a senior doctor treating and preventing patients and promoting the public health more than 35 years. I have the duty and the motive to do something to prevent and cure the climate changes and their impacts on public health. So in this research I especially create and propose a new draft law, the China climate changes prevention law, to speed, administrate and guard China doing well in preventing climate changes in China and the world. Methods: Summarized the public health promotion and environment protection in China and in author own doing. Referenced the present new situation of climate changes in China and the world. Created the China climate changes prevention law in draft and in central strategies. Results: The China climate changes prevention law in central strategies as follows: 1.In order to prevent and cure the climate changes and their impacts on public health and mankind, the China climate changes prevention law must be created as soon as possible. 2.All Chinese people and every government department and any unit must pay special attention to the climate changes and their impacts on public health and mankind. And must be consider it as the first doing job among the all works in any unit. 3.China own scientific research must be done as early as possible and as deeply as possible to find the etiology and mechanism of the climate changes and their impacts on public health and mankind. When the etiology and mechanism research have gained achievements. The application must be done as soon as possible. 4.The present achievements of etiology and mechanism of the climate changes and their impacts on public health and mankind must be applied as soon as possible. 5.All the policies of the United Nations and its organizations for controlling the climate changes must be signed and applied totally and completely as soon as possible. 6.China should be the leader of controlling the climate changes in the world. The significant China strategies must be contributed to the world for controlling the climate changes as soon as possible as China is the biggest country in population. 7.From birth and kindergarten to the time before death,the knowledge of environment protection and climate changes prevention, cure must be educated constantly to every Chinese. 8.The precondition for organizing any new unit and old unit must pass the exam of climate changes prevention. The concrete policies must be created and documented. 9.All over the China, the inspection stations must be built to monitor the climate changes wrongly doing. 10.Regulations and their process must be built to punish any anti law doers who promote the the climate changes. Also, reward any people and units who have contributed significantly to the prevention of climate changes. 11.Cooperation with internationals must be indispensable. 12.As the village of the Earth, open policies must be built to let internationals to inspect, learn,study and cooperation,etc. in China. 13.As the climate changes impacts on the Chinese and the mankind, the medical support, research, prevention, treatment, education and other health promotion policies must be created and built to protect the Chinese and the mankind from harming by the climate changes. The universities, hospitals, institutes should operate the climate changes impacts medical science. 14.Summarizing the doings of the climate changes prevention constantly to make progress further. 15.Liberating the thoughts of the leaders and the ordinary people, throwing away any selfish doing of only pursuing own country economic development at the price of world climate changes impact worse in the Earth and the space. Conclusion: The China climate changes prevention law in draft comes from the candid invention of the author by summarized the present situation of climate changes impacts in China and the world. The 15 paragraphs of the new China climate changes prevention law is valuable, as up to now, China has not built this kind of law. This proposal of the new China climate changes prevention law is worthwhile to referenced by China lawmakers, world countries lawmakers, the UN and its organizations and related others.