Using a novel database of domestic financial reforms in 90 countries from 1973 to 2014, we document that global financial liberalization followed an S-curve path: reforms were slow and gradual in early periods, accelerated during the 1990s, and slowed down after 2000. We estimate a learning...

This paper examines whether the rapid growing firm patenting activity in China is associated with real economic outcome by building a unique dataset uniting detailed firm balance sheet information with firm patent data for the period of 1998-2007. We find strong evidence that within-firm...

The majority of innovations are developed by multi-sector firms. The knowledge needed to invent new products is more easily adapted from some sectors than from others. We study this network of knowledge linkages between sectors and its impact on firm innovation and aggregate growth. We first...

This paper presents an interactive study on the relationship between the foreign trade structure, opening degree and economic growth of the provinces in western China (except Tibet). It shows that the export of primary products and labor-intensive products has a positive impact on the external...

In this paper we investigate the impact of Taiping Rebellion in the mid-nineteenth century on later economic development in China. We use a unique prefecture-level dataset on containing civil war intensity to assess whether the war damage led to persistent economic effect. We compare the heavily...