CUHK-Tsinghua Joint Research Center for Chinese Economy
CUHK-Zhejiang University Joint Research Center for Digital Economy
ABFER Webinar Series - Capital Market and Development: China and Asia
China Econ Lab
Working Papers
The Mandarin Model of Growth (with Wei Xiong)
On (Un)Congested Roads: A Quantitative Analysis of Infrastructure Investment Efficiency using Truck GPS Data (with Simon Alder and Zhitao Zhu) Web Appendix
Non-Tariff Trade Barriers in the U.S.-China Trade War (with Tuo Chen and Chang-Tai Hsieh)
Special Deals from Special Investors: The Rise of State-Connected Private Owners in China (with Chong-En Bai, Chang-Tai Hsieh, and Xin Wang) Bloomberg Report, VoxChina, WallstreetCN
Identifying Capital Misallocation (with Guiying Laura Wu), Technical Appendix
Private Affluence and Public Poverty: A Theory of Intergenerational Predation through Debt (with Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti), Technical Appendix
Policy Studies
Hong Kong Travelers in Mainland China: Scale, Destinations, and Expenditure Patterns (with Xijie Gao and Jing Han)
Evaluating Hong Kong Consumption Voucher Scheme (with Hao Geng and Matthew Ce Shi) Preliminary HKEJ, CWM50, Commercial Radio
Economic Effects of Lockdown in China (with Qin Chen, Zhiguo He, and Chang-Tai Hsieh)
Post-lockdown Economic Recovery in China (with Qin Chen, Zhiguo He, and Chang-Tai Hsieh), Chapter 1 in "Impact of COVID-19 on Asian Economies and Policy Responses", World Scientific (see VoxChina)
Publications
The Economic Cost of Locking down like China: Evidence from City-to-City Truck Flows (with Jingjing Chen, Wei Chen, Ernest Liu, and Jie Luo), Journal of Urban Economics, 2025, 145: 103729 (see reviews of this article in Bloomberg, BBC, Caixin and SCMP)
Tertiarization like China (with Xilu Chen, Guangyu Pei, and Fabrizio Zilibotti), Annual Review of Economics, 2023, 15: 485-512 (VoxChina/VoxEU)
From Imitation to Innovation: Where Is All that Chinese R&D Going? (with Michael Koenig, Kjetil Storesletten, and Fabrizio Zilibotti), Econometrica, 2022, 90(4): 1615-1654, Supplementary Appendix, Web Appendix (see VoxEU/VoxChina)
Liquidity Rules and Credit Booms (with Kinda Hachem), Journal of Political Economy, 2021, 129(10): 2721-2765 (lead article) VoxChina
Special Deals with Chinese Characteristics, (with Chong-En Bai and Chang-Tai Hsieh), NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 2020, 341-379 (see VoxChina, reports in WSJ and WSJ)
A Forensic Examination of China's National Accounts (with Wei Chen, Xilu Chen, and Chang-Tai Hsieh), Brookings Papers on Economic Activities, 2019, Spring, 77-127, Technical Appendix (see reviews of this article in The Economist, South China Morning Post, 联合早报, YouShu, NBER Digest)
Our Estimates on China's Provincial GDP Growth and Investment
Our response letter to comments by Lardy and Huang (Is China's Growth Overstated?)
Risks in China's Financial System (with Wei Xiong), Annual Review of Financial Economics, 2018, 10: 261-286.
The Long Shadow of China's Fiscal Expansion (with Chong-En Bai and Chang-Tai Hsieh), Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2016, Fall, 129-165, Appendix (See a report in the Financial Times and a review of this article in the Wall Street Journal)
Grasp the Large, Let Go of the Small: The Transformation of the State Sector in China (with Chang-Tai Hsieh), Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2015, Spring, 295-346, Technical Appendix (See a review of this article in NBER Digest: http://www.nber.org/digest/jun15/w21006.html)
Sharing High Growth across Generations: Pensions and Demographic Transition in China (with Kjetil Storesletten, Yikai Wang, and Fabrizio Zilibotti), American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2015, 7(2): 1-39 (Lead Article), Technical Appendix (See a review of this article in The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/21560274)
Accounting for China's Urbanization (with Qin Chen), China Economic Review, 2014, 30: 485-494.
Growing (with Capital Controls) like China (with Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti), IMF Economic Review, 2014, 62(3): 327-370.
Markovian Social Security in Unequal Societies (with Kaiji Chen), Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2014, 116(4): 982-1011.
House Price Dynamics with Dispersed Information (with Giovanni Favara), Journal of Economic Theory, 2014, 149(1): 350-382, January 2014.
Financial Frictions on Capital Allocation: A Transmission Mechanism of TFP Fluctuations (with Kaiji Chen), Journal of Monetary Economics, 2013, 60(6): 683-703, September 2013, Supplemental Material, Technical Appendix, Code, Data
Rotten Parents and Disciplined Children: A Politico-Economic Theory of Public Expenditure and Debt (with Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti), Econometrica, 2012, 80(6): 2785-2804, November 2012, Supplemental Material, Code
Persistent Ideology and the Determination of Public Policies over Time, International Economic Review, 53(1): 175-202, February 2012, Technical Appendix
The Dynamics of Inequality and Social Security in General Equilibrium, Review of Economic Dynamics, 14(4): 613-635, November 2011.
Growing like China, (with Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti), American Economic Review, 101(1): 196-233, February 2011, Technical Appendix, Code, Errata
CUHK-Zhejiang University Joint Research Center for Digital Economy
ABFER Webinar Series - Capital Market and Development: China and Asia
China Econ Lab
Working Papers
The Mandarin Model of Growth (with Wei Xiong)
On (Un)Congested Roads: A Quantitative Analysis of Infrastructure Investment Efficiency using Truck GPS Data (with Simon Alder and Zhitao Zhu) Web Appendix
Non-Tariff Trade Barriers in the U.S.-China Trade War (with Tuo Chen and Chang-Tai Hsieh)
Special Deals from Special Investors: The Rise of State-Connected Private Owners in China (with Chong-En Bai, Chang-Tai Hsieh, and Xin Wang) Bloomberg Report, VoxChina, WallstreetCN
Identifying Capital Misallocation (with Guiying Laura Wu), Technical Appendix
Private Affluence and Public Poverty: A Theory of Intergenerational Predation through Debt (with Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti), Technical Appendix
Policy Studies
Hong Kong Travelers in Mainland China: Scale, Destinations, and Expenditure Patterns (with Xijie Gao and Jing Han)
Evaluating Hong Kong Consumption Voucher Scheme (with Hao Geng and Matthew Ce Shi) Preliminary HKEJ, CWM50, Commercial Radio
Economic Effects of Lockdown in China (with Qin Chen, Zhiguo He, and Chang-Tai Hsieh)
Post-lockdown Economic Recovery in China (with Qin Chen, Zhiguo He, and Chang-Tai Hsieh), Chapter 1 in "Impact of COVID-19 on Asian Economies and Policy Responses", World Scientific (see VoxChina)
Publications
The Economic Cost of Locking down like China: Evidence from City-to-City Truck Flows (with Jingjing Chen, Wei Chen, Ernest Liu, and Jie Luo), Journal of Urban Economics, 2025, 145: 103729 (see reviews of this article in Bloomberg, BBC, Caixin and SCMP)
Tertiarization like China (with Xilu Chen, Guangyu Pei, and Fabrizio Zilibotti), Annual Review of Economics, 2023, 15: 485-512 (VoxChina/VoxEU)
From Imitation to Innovation: Where Is All that Chinese R&D Going? (with Michael Koenig, Kjetil Storesletten, and Fabrizio Zilibotti), Econometrica, 2022, 90(4): 1615-1654, Supplementary Appendix, Web Appendix (see VoxEU/VoxChina)
Liquidity Rules and Credit Booms (with Kinda Hachem), Journal of Political Economy, 2021, 129(10): 2721-2765 (lead article) VoxChina
Special Deals with Chinese Characteristics, (with Chong-En Bai and Chang-Tai Hsieh), NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 2020, 341-379 (see VoxChina, reports in WSJ and WSJ)
A Forensic Examination of China's National Accounts (with Wei Chen, Xilu Chen, and Chang-Tai Hsieh), Brookings Papers on Economic Activities, 2019, Spring, 77-127, Technical Appendix (see reviews of this article in The Economist, South China Morning Post, 联合早报, YouShu, NBER Digest)
Our Estimates on China's Provincial GDP Growth and Investment
Our response letter to comments by Lardy and Huang (Is China's Growth Overstated?)
Risks in China's Financial System (with Wei Xiong), Annual Review of Financial Economics, 2018, 10: 261-286.
The Long Shadow of China's Fiscal Expansion (with Chong-En Bai and Chang-Tai Hsieh), Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2016, Fall, 129-165, Appendix (See a report in the Financial Times and a review of this article in the Wall Street Journal)
Grasp the Large, Let Go of the Small: The Transformation of the State Sector in China (with Chang-Tai Hsieh), Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2015, Spring, 295-346, Technical Appendix (See a review of this article in NBER Digest: http://www.nber.org/digest/jun15/w21006.html)
Sharing High Growth across Generations: Pensions and Demographic Transition in China (with Kjetil Storesletten, Yikai Wang, and Fabrizio Zilibotti), American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2015, 7(2): 1-39 (Lead Article), Technical Appendix (See a review of this article in The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/21560274)
Accounting for China's Urbanization (with Qin Chen), China Economic Review, 2014, 30: 485-494.
Growing (with Capital Controls) like China (with Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti), IMF Economic Review, 2014, 62(3): 327-370.
Markovian Social Security in Unequal Societies (with Kaiji Chen), Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2014, 116(4): 982-1011.
House Price Dynamics with Dispersed Information (with Giovanni Favara), Journal of Economic Theory, 2014, 149(1): 350-382, January 2014.
Financial Frictions on Capital Allocation: A Transmission Mechanism of TFP Fluctuations (with Kaiji Chen), Journal of Monetary Economics, 2013, 60(6): 683-703, September 2013, Supplemental Material, Technical Appendix, Code, Data
Rotten Parents and Disciplined Children: A Politico-Economic Theory of Public Expenditure and Debt (with Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti), Econometrica, 2012, 80(6): 2785-2804, November 2012, Supplemental Material, Code
Persistent Ideology and the Determination of Public Policies over Time, International Economic Review, 53(1): 175-202, February 2012, Technical Appendix
The Dynamics of Inequality and Social Security in General Equilibrium, Review of Economic Dynamics, 14(4): 613-635, November 2011.
Growing like China, (with Kjetil Storesletten and Fabrizio Zilibotti), American Economic Review, 101(1): 196-233, February 2011, Technical Appendix, Code, Errata