Center for Economic Research on Globalization

Abstract

If mothers take care of children more than fathers, then after the onset of COVID-19 mothers’ employment is expected to drop more than that of fathers. This gender gap is likely to be larger where women are less concerned about the financial repercussions of opting out of the labor force, and therefore the gender gap in employment is likely to grow more where community property or homemaking provisions give more protection to homemakers in case of union dissolution. Difference-in-differences and dynamic study estimations applied to CPS data for 2019–2020 show that after the onset of COVID-19 the labor force participation of mothers of school-age children—but not of fathers--dropped more in states with marital property laws more generous to parental caregivers. These results stand in contrast to how these groups’ labor force participation changed after the Great Recession, compared to pre-recession levels. 

Abstract

Land finance has become one of the important major sources of fiscal revenue for Chinese local governments. The spatial allocation of land use constitutes a land-leasing policy operation of local officials, contributing to local economic development and fluctuation. Applying data from 283 prefectural units from 2003 to 2012, this paper explores the existence of land finance cycles, focussing on the changes of the amount (as in ‘area’) of land-leasing by negotiation or by auction. The empirical results suggest that land finance cycles synchronise with the PCCP (Provincial Congress of the Communist Party) cycles, in which a prefectural leader decreases the amount of land leased through negotiation and increases that of land leased through auction prior to the year of the PCCP. The findings of empirical results are consistent with the prediction of our theoretical model. Additionally, due to the existence of high uncertainty of prefectural leaders’ tenure and political turnover, the effect of prefectural leaders’ tenure on land finance cycles is more apparent in the early years of their tenure. The results indicate that Chinese leaders’ fiscal strategies are likely to be driven by career concerns for the purpose of maximising a measured economic performance and fiscal rents.

時間：3/27—29, 2024

地點：國立清華大學台積館506會議室

主辦單位：國立清華大學全球化經濟研究中心

協辦單位：台灣經濟學會

講者:

趙相科（國立清華大學經濟系與全球化經濟研究中心）

福田圓（日本法政大學法學部國際政治學系）

李翎帆（國立清華大學經濟系與全球化經濟研究中心）

鄭仲棠（國立台北大學經濟系）

李為楨（政治大學台灣史研究所）

王秀雲（國立成功大學醫學系）

王憲群（國立清華大學歷史研究所）

蘇聖雄（中央研究院近代史研究所）

楊善堯（喆閎人文工作室）

劉曉鵬（國立政治大學國家發展研究所）

廖彥博（國立清華大學全球化經濟研究中心）

林孝庭（史丹佛大學胡佛研究所）

陳冠任（中研院近代史研究所）