This paper highlights strategic patenting as an underexplored form of rent-seeking behaviors by large firms to gain political benefits. We argue that firms, especially large ones, can strategically time their innovation efforts to create false signals to pursue subsidies; they can achieve this...

This study attempts a first causal examination of the role of state capacity in China's economic performance. Effective state capacity connotes not just ability to extract tax from citizens but also the ability to convert taxes into public investment. Equally importantly, these capacities must...

Although policy uncertainty has drawn regulators' attention in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, little is known on how to alleviate its adverse effects. In this paper, we examine the role of political connections in mitigating the detrimental impact of policy uncertainty on banks....

China's 2007 Property Law provides a rare large scale quasi experiment to examine the impact of restoring property rights protections to private ownership of assets. The paper presents evidence of the Law's impact on the universe of Chinese firms over 1998-2013 utilizing novel administrative...