Demographic structure has both the scale effect and the structural effect on bilateral trade. The "scale effect" refers that a low dependency ratio of exporter can produce and export more. Similarly, importer's low dependency ratio can induce more income and hence import more. The "structural...

This chapter provides a review of China’s economic growth since 1978. Studying China’s economic success may shed new light on the political economy of growth, the impacts of the ascent of large countries on the rest of the world, and the relationship between inequality and economic growth....

We examine the effects of introducing village elections on public goods expenditures, income distribution and land use in rural China. We construct a large panel data set of village administrative records to document the history of political reforms and economic policies for over two hundred...

Do informal institutions, rules and norms created and enforced by social groups, promote good local governance in environments of weak democratic or bureaucratic institutions? This question is difficult to answer because of challenges in defining and measuring informal institutions and...

China's remarkable economic growth is often attributed to strong government intervention that can mobilize large amounts of resources to clear any bottleneck to growth or institutional change. This approach is often referred to as the Beijing Consensus (BC) as compared to the Washington...

This paper aims to show that culture is an important determinant of the effectiveness of formal democratic institutions, such as elections. We collect new data to document the presence of voluntary and social organizations and the history of electoral reforms in Chinese villages. We use the...