Subjective performance evaluation is widely used by firms and governments to provide work incentives. However, delegating evaluation power to local leadership could induce influence activities: employees might devote too much effort to impressing/pleasing their evaluator, relative to working...

We conducted a nationwide field experiment in China to evaluate the direct and indirect impacts of assigning firms to public or private citizen appeals treatments when they violate pollution standards. There are three main findings. First, public appeals to the regulator through social media...

We conducted a nationwide field experiment in China to evaluate the direct and indirect impacts of assigning firms to public or private citizen appeals treatments when they violate pollution standards. There are three main findings. First, public appeals to the regulator through social media...

This paper studies the unintended effect of English language requirement on educational inequality by investigating how the staggered rollout of English listening tests in China's high-stakes National College Entrance Exam (NCEE) affected the rural-urban gap in college access. Leveraging...

This study estimates the effect of improved bureaucrat quality on poverty alleviation by exploring a unique human capital reallocation policy in China -- the “College Graduate Village Officials” (CGVOs) program. We find that introducing CGVOs into the village governance system improves the...

This paper examines how power lawyers shape judicial and economic outcomes by studying the "revolving door" between judges and lawyers in China's judicial system--namely, former judges who quit the bench to practice law. In otherwise identical lawsuits, revolving-door lawyers deliver 8-23%...