We employ a province-level data set to assess the contribution of fiscal decentralization initiated in the 1980s to economic growth in China. Controlling for other concurrent reform measures, we find that fiscal decentralization has raised the growth rate of per capita GDP at the province level....

This study examines the determinants of rural-urban migration paying special attention to the role of human capital externalities in the rural sector. Using data from a well-known household survey in China, we find that in rural areas human capital externalities have a discouraging effect on...

Economists have made repeated efforts through both theoretical modeling and empirical testing to understand the deterrent effect of capital punishment. By and large, they have found a negative and statistically significant effect of capital punishment on the act of murder (that is, the death...

Using household survey data, we study the determinants of individual well-being in urban China, emphasizing particularly the role of income expectations. First, we find that individual well-being increases contemporaneously with own income and decreases with community's average income,...