Title:Artificial Administrative Boundaries: Evidence from China

Speaker:李培

Time:1:55pm June 1, 2018

Venue: Yide building H501

Abstract

What happens when subnational boundaries are badly drawn? We use China as a test case to investigate the ramifications. As Chinese provincial and longstanding socioeconomic boundaries are not fully aligned, counties of the same province may not share the same regional identity. Using Deng Xiaoping’s economic liberalization campaign in 1991–92 to implement a difference-in-differences, we find that the annual growth differential between aligned and misaligned counties increased by 0.96 percentage points after Deng’s campaign galvanized the provinces to pursue economic expansion. We also uncover evidence of discrimination against the misaligned counties by the provincial authorities.

Speaker’s Information

李培，厦门大学王亚南经济研究院副教授，中国人民大学经济学博士。李培博士的主要研究领域包括公共经济学、发展经济学和环境经济学，并有多篇论文发表在Journal of Development Economics，American Economic Journal: Economic Policies，Urban Studies，China Economic Review，Environment and Development Economics等国际著名学术期刊。