We provide the first comprehensive and robust evidence on the relationship between board independence and firm performance in China. We find that independent directors have an overall positive effect on firm operating performance in China. Our findings are robust to a battery of tests, including...

This paper documents that an increase in the enforcement of value-added tax (VAT) caused by the adoption of a new technology significantly increased VAT payments by large manufacturing firms in China. The reform contributed to 27.1% of VAT revenues and 12.9% of total government revenues in the...

We formulate a tractable continuous-time rational expectations model in which the agent is ambiguity averse and would like to robustify asset return specification. Ambiguity affects the portfolio rule and asset pricing both individually and collectively with risk. Independently existing...

We provide one of the first comprehensive and most updated studies on the effects of firms’ organizational resources, country institutions, and national culture on the survival and growth of private firms around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzing World Bank Enterprise Follow-up...

Using the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data from 2006-2017 on 130,000 firms in 130 countries across the globe, we document that women-led firms tend to underperform men-led firms. The main contribution of this work is to shed light on three mechanisms that help explain the...

Several studies from the Nordic countries show that cemeteries not only fulfil an important societal function as places for the disposal of bodily remains; they are also recreational landscapes that people visit to reflect, experience nature or perhaps go for a walk with the dog. In this...

This paper assesses the implications of China's trade and domestic policies for incentives to producers in China. It uses a price comparison methodology (nominal rates of assistance--at the border and the farmgate), with adjustments for exchange rate distortions in the first part of the sample...

We evaluate the effects of a Chinese accelerated depreciation policy that occurred in 2014 on firm investment. We present three findings. First, on average, the policy increased firms' investment in eligible capital, especially the purchase of equipment and machines. Second, the policy effects...