Cross-sectional analysis is problematic when examining the determinants of migration as well as its impacts. Panel data may potentially solve the problem by tracking households over different time periods. Using panel data from household surveys in six provinces in rural China over 1986 to 1999,...

Purpose – The effects of social learning and network externalities in the diffusion of a new product imply that there should be local spillovers from existing owners to new adopters in a closely related community. Using the data from a unique household survey in rural China, this paper aims to...

Using the consumption of color television sets in rural China, this paper documents the existence of a type of network effect – free riding across neighbors, which reduces the propensity of non-owners to purchase. I construct a model of timing the purchase of a durable good in the presence of...

We analyze the impacts of power supply, tap water, and other public services on the demand for color TVs, washing machines, and refrigerators in rural China using data from a survey of 20,000 rural households in 1999 designed for this research. We find that the provision of public goods and the...

Scientific personnel are important to firm innovation; however, their short-run supply is inelastic. During China’s college enrollment expansion beginning in 1999, colleges had hired a larger proportion of scientific personnel than before, thereby making fewer available to industries. We...

When only short-term loans are available, innovative firms may become more reluctant to invest in long-term and highly risky investment projects (i.e., radical innovation). By exploiting the unique situation in China that patenting firms for the first time obtained patent-backed loans (PBLs),...

Purpose – The effects of social learning and network externalities in the diffusion of a new product imply that there should be local spillovers from existing owners to new adopters in a closely related community. Using the data from a unique household survey in rural China, this paper aims to...