In this paper, we investigate the determinants of household asset portfolios during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Using an online longitudinal survey and focusing on a broad spectrum of assets, including stocks, gold, wealth management products, and houses, we show that more confirmed COVID-19...

In this study, we exploit a policy shock that differentially increased capital gains taxes for housing units with holding period less than 5 years, and document tax avoidance and tax evasion in the residential resale market in China. We show suggestive evidence that after the capital gains tax...

Lockdown policy and case disclosure during the COVID-19 pandemic can influence human behavior and health outcomes. We investigate how individuals' daily dietary patterns were affected by the lockdown policy and the case disclosure in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employing a large...

There are widespread concerns that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic leads to negative attitudes or even stigmatization, especially towards peoples and products from the epicenters. We study the effects of information treatments on partially mitigating the negative impacts such as stigmatization on...

We study the effects of information treatments on mitigating the negative impacts on demand at specific locations with a survey experiment. Using two randomly assigned information treatments targeting Hubei products, we document that the respondents are more likely to choose a similar non-Hubei...

With increasing water security challenges, water utilities around the world face complex decisions on water supply and demand management. This study investigates the effects of price and subsidy increases on water conservation in Singapore. Using anonymized monthly billing data on water...

Utilizing a transaction-level dataset of presale private properties in Singapore over 20 years, this paper investigates the property price dynamics since the project launch. We show that for a newly launched residential project, its presale prices increase by approximately 1% every 100 days...

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/14/11.

How does the introduction of rural public work schemes impact individual incentives to migrate? This paper examines this question in the context of rural public work program (Yigong-daizhen) in China, and unveils empirical evidence that suggest that the introduction of Yigong-daizhen projects in...

Because many rural poor live in areas far away from markets, we investigate whether better road access could help improve their livelihood and reduce rural poverty. We use three waves of a primary panel survey at the household level conducted in 18 remote natural villages in China to study how...