This paper investigates the effectiveness of engine-specific tax programs that are widely used in developing countries to contain car carbon emissions. Using the largest national tax abatement program for small displacement vehicles in 2015 and administrative data in China, our study identifies...

We provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of target-based performance evaluation for bureaucrats in the context of the Two Control Zones policy in China. In 2006, the Chinese central government made sulphur dixoide (SO2) emissions cuts a major performance evaluation criterion for...

In this paper, we examine a causal relationship between flattening of a government hierarchy and economic performance. Exploiting a novel panel dataset on government reorganization in China from 1999 to 2012, we find that delayering has led to increases in revenue and inter-govermental transfers...

Does gender identity affect judicial decisions? This paper provides novel evidence of in-group gender bias in judicial decisions for almost all the divorce cases in China. Exploiting effectively random assignment of cases to judges, the analysis finds that a claim with a male plaintiff is 3.9%...