Chenggang Xu
Aug 2023
E-Mail: cgxu@stanford.edu
Personal Page: https://sccei.fsi.stanford.edu/people/chenggang-xu
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jWkk11QAAAAJ&hl=en
Research Interests
Political Economics, Institutional Economics, History, Development Economics, China's Political Economy and History, Law and Finance, Law and Economics, Digital Economy (particularly AI)
Degrees
Ph.D. (Economics), Harvard University, 1991
MSc (Engineering), Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 1982
Academic Positions
§ Senior Research Scholar, Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, 2022–
§ Professor of Economics, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), 2016-2020
§ Chung Hon-Dak (Quoin) Professor in Economic Development and Professor of Economics, University of Hong Kong, 2009-2016
§ Reader, Senior Lecturer (tenured), and Lecturer at London School of Economics, 1991-2009
§ Research Associate, Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), 1982-1984
Visiting/Special Program and Part-time Academic Positions
§ Honorary Professor, Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong, 2016–
Visiting Professor, Finance Department, Imperial College London, 2021–2023
§ Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution of Stanford University, 2021-2022
§ Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Maison des Sciences de I’homme, Paris, 2019
§ Visiting Professor, Institute of Advanced Studies, Corvinus University of Budapest, 2019-2020
§ Special-term Professor, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, 2002-2017
§ Polonsky Visiting Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2016-2017
§ "World-Class University Professor", Seoul National University, 2009-2013
§ Visiting Professor, University of Hong Kong, 2008-2009
§ Visiting Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2006-2008
§ Senior research fellow, Shanghai Institute for Law and Economics, 2004-
§ Visiting Scholar, Department of Economics, Harvard University, 2002
§ Research fellow, China Center for Financial Research (Tsinghua University), 2002-
§ Fellow, Chinese Economic Society (US), 2000-
§ Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), 1999–
§ Research Fellow, National Center for Economic Research (Tsinghua University), 1996-
§ Faculty Research Fellow, Center for International Development, Harvard University, 1998-1999
§ Davidson Research Institute Fellow, University of Michigan, 1997-
§ Visiting Scholar, International Monetary Fund, 1998, 1999, 2000
§ Faculty Associate, Harvard Institute for International Development, Harvard University, 1993-2000
Professional Service
Board member, The Ronald Coase Institute, 2015-
Member of the Academic Committee, Luohan Academy (Alibaba), 2018-
Director, Ronald Coase Institute of Law and Economics, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2015-
President, Asian Law and Economics Association (AsLEA), 2010- 2012
Council member, National Economics Foundation (NEF) [当代经济学基金会], 2015-2021
Committee member, Sun Ye Fang Economic Prize[孙冶方经济科学奖评奖委员会委员]，2012-
Co-editor, Seoul Journal of Economics, 2014-
Co-editor, Annals of Economics and Finance, 2000-
Chief-Economist, 《中国改革》（China Reform）， 2011-
Co-editor, Journal of Asian Law and Economics, 2009-2014
Co-editor, China Journal of Economics, 2009-2014
Program Committee member: The 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th World Congress of the IEA (International Economic Association), 2011, 2014, 2017, 2020.
Member of the scientific committee of the China Economic Summer Institute (an international collaborative venture among NBER (US), CEPR (Europe), BREAD (US-UK), Tsinghua, PKU and HKU), 2009-2014
Program Committee member: 2004, 2006 Far Eastern Meeting of the Econometric Society
Program Committee member: 1999 European Economic Association Annual Congress
Program Committee member: Asian Law and Economics Association Annual Meetings, 2005-2012
Editorial Board member, Seoul Journal of Economics, 2011-
Editorial Board member, Journal of Comparative Economics, 1997-2000
Editorial Board member, Economic Systems, 2002 -
Editorial Board member, China Economic Review, 2005-
Editorial Board member, Jing-ji She-hui Ti-zhi Bi-jiao (Comparative Socio-Economic Systems), 1998-
Editorial Board member, Bi-jiao (Comparative Studies), 2002-
Editorial Board member, Journal of Emerging Market Finance, 2001-) (http://iciciresearchcentre.org/user/journal/editorialboard.asp)
Academic advisory committee member, China Economic Quarterly, 2001-
Academic committee member, China Journal of Finance, 2003-
Academic committee member, China Public Administration Review, 2003-
Associate Director, Institute for China and Global Development, University of Hong Kong
Board Member, Asian Institute of International Financial Law (AIIFL), Faculty of Law, HKU
Deputy Director, Management Committee Member, Ronald Coase Centre for Property Rights Research (RCCPRR), Faculty of Architecture, HKU
Director, Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Institutions, CKGSB, 2018- 2020
Selected Journal Publications
Guo, Di, Kun Jiang, Chenggang Xu, and Xiyi Yang. "Geographic Clusters, Regional Productivity and Resource Reallocation across Firms: Evidence from China." Research Policy 52, no. 2 (2023).
Guo, Di, Kun Jiang, Chenggang Xu, and Xiyi Yang. "Industrial Clustering, Income and Inequality in Rural China." World Development 154 (2022).
Guo, Di, and Chenggang Xu. "Is Today's China Yesterday's Soviet Union?" Project Syndicate, December 2022.
Guo, Di, Haizhou Huang, Kun Jiang, and Chenggang Xu. "Disruptive Innovation and R&D Ownership Structures." Public Choice 187 (2021).
Xu, Chenggang. "经济学理论的贫困 The Poverty of Economic Theory." China Economic Quarterly 20, no. 1 (2020).
Guo, Di, Kun Jiang, Chenggang Xu, and Xiyi Yang. "Growth, Inequality and Industrial Clusters in China." Journal of Economic Geography (2020).
Xu, Chenggang. "The Pitfalls of a Centralized Bureaucracy." Acta Oeconomica 69, no. 1 (2019): 1–16.
Gan, Jie, Yan Guo, and Chenggang Xu. "China’s Decentralized Privatization and Change of Control Rights." Review of Financial Studies 31, no. 10 (2018).
Xu, Chenggang. "Incentive Problems in a Bureaucracy 官僚体制中的激励机制问题." China Journal of Economics (经济学报) (2017).
Xu, Chenggang. "Capitalism and Socialism: Review of Kornai’s Dynamism, Rivalry, and the Surplus Economy." Journal of Economic Literature 55, no. 1 (2017): 191-208.
Guo, Di, Kun Jiang, and Chenggang Xu. "Institution and Managerial Task Allocation: Evidence from Chinese Entrepreneurs." Journal of Human Capital 11, no. 3 (2017): 397-422.
Xu, Chenggang. "Political and Economic Institutions of China and Their Influences." Cato Journal (2015).
Kim, Byung-Yeon, Jin Wang, and Chenggang Xu. "Development of Private Sector Determines Reform and Economic Development: Firm-Level Evidence from All Transition Economies." China Journal of Economics (经济学报) 1, no. 3 (2014): 57-83.
Guo, Di, Kun Jiang, Byung-Yeon Kim, and Chenggang Xu. "Political Economy of Private Firms in China." Journal of Comparative Economics 42, no. 2 (2014): 286–303.
Xu, Chenggang. "The Fundamental Institutions of China’s Reforms and Development." Journal of Economic Literature 49, no. 4 (2011): 1076–1151.
Andrianova, Svetlana, Panicos Demetriades, and Chenggang Xu. "Political Economy Origins of Financial Markets in Europe and Asia." World Development 39, no. 5 (2011).
Du, Julan, and Chenggang Xu. "What Firms Went Public in China? A Study of Financial Market Regulation." World Development 37, no. 4 (2009): 812-824.
Guo, Yan, Jie Gan, and Chenggang Xu. "A Nationwide Survey of Privatized Firms in China." Seoul Journal of Economics 21, no. 2 (2008).
Qian, Yingyi, Gérard Roland, and Chenggang Xu. "Coordinating Reforms in Transition Economies." In The Economics of Transition: The Fifth Nobel Symposium in Economics, edited by Erik Berglöf, Olivier Blanchard, and Gérard Roland, 518-546. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Qian, Yingyi, Gérard Roland, and Chenggang Xu. "Coordination and Experimentation in M-Form and U-Form Organizations." Journal of Political Economy 114, no. 2 (2006): 366-402.
Pistor, Katharina, and Chenggang Xu. "Governing Stock Markets in Transition Economies: Lessons from China." American Law and Economics Review 7, no. 1 (2005): 184-210.
Pistor, Katharina, and Chenggang Xu. "Governing Emerging Stock Markets: Legal vs. Administrative Governance." Corporate Governance: An International Review (2005).
Pistor, Katharina, and Chenggang Xu. "Incomplete Law." Journal of International Law and Politics (2004): 931-1013.
Pistor, Katharina, and Chenggang Xu. "Beyond Law Enforcement – Governing Financial Markets in China and Russia." In Building a Trustworthy State: Problems of Post-Socialist Transition, edited by Janos Kornai and Susan Rose-Ackerman, 167-190. New York and London: Palgrave, 2004.
Pistor, Katharina, and Chenggang Xu. "The Challenge of Incomplete Law And How Different Legal Systems Respond to It." In Le Bijuridisme: Une approche économique (2004).
Huang, Haizhou, and Chenggang Xu. "Financial Syndication and R&D." Economics Letters 80, no. 2 (2003): 141-146.
Pistor, Katharina, and Chenggang Xu. "Fiduciary Duty in Transitional Civil Law Jurisdictions: Lessons from the Incomplete Law Theory." Corporate Law: Corporate Governance Law eJournal (2002).
Maskin, Eric, and Chenggang Xu. "Soft Budget Constraint Theories: From Centralization to the Market." Economics of Transition (2001). Reprinted in The Economics of Transition: The Fifth Nobel Symposium in Economics, edited by Erik Berglöf, Olivier Blanchard, and Gérard Roland, 12-36. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Qian, Yingyi, Gérard Roland, and Chenggang Xu. "Attribute Coordination in Organizations." Annals of Economics and Finance 2, no. 2 (2001): 487-518.
Maskin, Eric, Yingyi Qian, and Chenggang Xu. "Incentives, Information, and Organizational Form." Review of Economic Studies 67, no. 2 (2000): 359-378.
Huang, Haizhou, and Chenggang Xu. "Institutions, Innovations, and Growth." American Economic Review 89, no. 2 (1999): 438-43.
Huang, Haizhou, and Chenggang Xu. "Financial Institutions and the Financial Crisis in East Asia." European Economic Review 43, no. 4-6 (1999): 903-914.
Qian, Yingyi, Gérard Roland, and Chenggang Xu. "Why is China Different from Eastern Europe? Perspectives from Organization Theory." European Economic Review 43, no. 4-6 (1999): 1085-1094.
Qian, Yingyi, and Chenggang Xu. "Innovation and Bureaucracy under Soft and Hard Budget Constraints." Review of Economic Studies 65, no. 1 (1998): 151-164.
Huang, Haizhou, and Chenggang Xu. "Financial Budget Constraints and the Optimal Choices of R&D Project Financing." Journal of Comparative Economics 26, no. 1 (1998): 62-79.
Qian, Yingyi, Gérard Roland, and Chenggang Xu. "Coordinating Activities under Alternative Organizational Forms." In Planning, Shortage and Transformation -- Kornai’s Festschrift, edited by Eric Maskin and Andras Simonovits, 57-80. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998.
Zhuang, Juzhong, and Chenggang Xu. "Profit Sharing and Financial Performance in Chinese State Enterprises: Evidence from Panel Data." Economics of Planning 29, no. 3 (1996): 205-222.
Goodhart, Charles, and Chenggang Xu. "The Rise of China as an Economic Power." National Institute Economic Review 155 (1996): 56-80.
Weitzman, Martin L., and Chenggang Xu. "Chinese Township Village Enterprises as Vaguely Defined Cooperatives." Journal of Comparative Economics 18, no. 2 (1994): 121-145.
Qian, Yingyi, and Chenggang Xu. "The M-Form Hierarchy and China's Economic Reform." European Economic Review (1993): 541-548.
Qian, Yingyi, and Chenggang Xu. "Why China's Economic Reforms Differ: The M-Form Hierarchy and Entry/Expansion of the Non-State Sector." The Economics of Transition 1, no. 2 (1993): 135-170. Translated and published as "A Kinai Gazdasagi Reform Sajatos Vonasai," Europa Forum (Hungarian academic journal), 1995, and translated as "Fei Guoyouzhi Jingji Chuxian He Chengzhang De Zhidu Beijing," Shehui Kexue Xuebao, Special Issue, 1995.
Xu, Chenggang. "On Technological Change in a Centralized Economy." Studies of Quantitative and Technical Economics (shuliang yu jishu jingji jianjou) No. 6 (1984). (in Chinese).
Xu, Chenggang, and Hede Guo. "Computer-Aided Profile Optimization Design (Jisuanji Fuzhu Xingzhuang Youhua Sheji)." Heavy Machinery (Zhongxing Jixie) No. 10 (1984).
Books and Book Chapters
Xu, Chenggang. A Journey of Exploration (探索的历程). Xu Chenggang's Collected Works, Vol. 1. Zhongxin Press, 2022.
Xu, Chenggang. “The Origin of China’s Communist Institutions.” In The Cambridge Economic History of China, edited by Debin Ma and Richard von Glahn. Cambridge University Press, 2022.
Xu, Chenggang. “Institutional Foundations of China’s Structural Problems.” In The Chinese Economy: A New Transition, edited by Masahiko Aoki and Jinglian Wu, International Economic Association World Congress. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Kung, James, Chenggang Xu, and Feizhou Zhou. “From Industrialization to Urbanization: The Social Consequences of Changing Fiscal Incentives on Local Governments’ Behavior.” In Institutional Design for China’s Evolving Market Economy, edited by Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2011.
Xu, Chenggang, and Xiaobo Zhang. “The Evolution of Chinese Entrepreneurial Firms: Township-Village Enterprises Revisited.” In Reform and Development in China, edited by Wu and Yao, London and New York: Routledge, 2010.
Du, Julan, and Chenggang Xu. “Market Socialism or Capitalism? Evidence from Chinese Financial Market Development.” In Market and Socialism (The International Economic Association Conference Volume No. 146), edited by Janos Kornai and Yingyi Qian, New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, pp. 88-109.
Pistor, Katharina, and Chenggang Xu. "Managers’ Fiduciary Duty and the Enforcement of Incomplete Corporate Law." In Global Markets, Domestic Institutions, edited by Curtis Milhaupt, New York: Columbia University Press, July 2003, pp. 77-106.
Qian, Yingyi, Gérard Roland, and Chenggang Xu. “Coordination in Organizations: A Comparative Analysis.” In The Strategic Analysis of Universities: Microeconomic and Management Perspectives, edited by M. Dewatripont et al., Editions de l’Universite de Bruxelles, 2001, pp. 9-29.
Xu, Chenggang, and Juzhong Zhuang. "Why China Grew: The Role of Decentralisation." In Emerging from Communism, edited by P. Boon, S. Gomulka, and R. Layard, MIT Press, 1998, pp. 183-212.
Xu, Chenggang. A Different Transition Path: Ownership, Performance, and Influence of Chinese Rural Industrial Enterprises. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995. Reprint New York and London: Routledge, 2018.
Qian, Yingyi, and Chenggang Xu. "Commitment, Financial Constraints, and Innovation: Market Socialism Reconsidered." In Market Socialism: The Current Debate, edited by P. Bardhan and Roemer, Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 175-189.
Xu, Chenggang. "The Inter-Relationship between the Growth of Computer Industry and the Institutions of Societies." In History of Science and Technology in the Twentieth Century, edited by Liangying Xu et al. Beijing: Science Press, 1985 (in Chinese). This book won the Second National Prize of Sciences (China).
Xu, Chenggang (Co-Editor). Essays on Socio-Economic Indicators. Beijing: The Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics, The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), 1984 (in Chinese). These are the proceedings of an international conference co-sponsored by UNESCO and CASS.
Selected Working Papers
Gao, Liam, Alex Michaelides, Chenggang Xu, and Yi Zhang. "Judicial Slant & Private Sector: Big Data Evidence from China’s Courts’ Judgments." Mimeo, Imperial College, 2022.
Li, Sheng, Chenggang Xu, and Bo Zhao. "Does Financial Regulation Matter? Manipulation, Stock Volatility and the U.S. 1933/34 Securities Acts." Working Paper, 2022.
Cui, Xiaohui, Xinyu Fan, Di Guo, Zhao Jin, Rong Xiao, Chenggang Xu, and Yanqing Yang. "China AI Index, 2022." Forthcoming, 2022.
Mai, Xiaoting, and Chenggang Xu. "Land Rights and the Limits on Government: Cross-Country Historical Evidence." Mimeo, University of Hong Kong, 2016.
Guo, Di, Kun Jiang, Yutong Wang, and Chenggang Xu. "The Political Economy of Making an Authoritarian Constitution: The Case of China." CKGSB, 2019.
Li, Weijia, Chenggang Xu, and Bo Zhao. "Multi-task Incentives in Bureaucracy: Theory and Evidence from China." Draft mimeo, 2019.
Kim, Byung-Yeon, Jin Wang, and Chenggang Xu. "Understanding Firms in Transition Economies: China and Central-Eastern Europe Compared." Mimeo, University of Hong Kong, 2014.
Xu, Chenggang, and Katharina Pistor. "Enforcement Failure under Incomplete Law: Theory and Evidence from Financial Market Regulation." Mimeo, University of Hong Kong and Columbia Law School, 2009.
Du, Julan, and Chenggang Xu. "Regional Competition and Regulatory Decentralization: The Case of China." Mimeo, University of Hong Kong, 2010.
Demetriades, Panicos O., Jun Du, Sourafel Girma, and Chenggang Xu. "Does the Chinese Banking System Promote the Growth of Firms?" Mimeo, University of Hong Kong, 2009.
Tong, Jian, and Chenggang Xu. "Emulation-Based Growth: Technology and Institutions." Mimeo, LSE, 2006.
Tong, Jian, and Chenggang Xu. "Financial Institutions and the Wealth of Nations: Tales of Development." LSE STICERD TE/2004/469; CEPR DP4348.
Huang, Haizhou, and Chenggang Xu. "Financial Institutions, Financial Contagion, and Financial Crises." Harvard University CID Working Paper No. 21, July 1999. IMF Working Papers 00/92.
Huang, Haizhou, Dalia Marin, and Chenggang Xu. "Financial Crisis, Economic Recovery and Banking Development in Former Soviet Union Countries." CEPR Working Paper.
Huang, Haizhou, and Chenggang Xu. "Boundary of the Firm, Commitment and R&D Financing." WDI Working Paper No. 316.
Bai, Chongen, and Chenggang Xu. "Does Employee Ownership Improve Incentives for Efforts?" LSE STICERD Theoretical Economics Working Paper TE/01/413.
Xu, Chenggang. "Risk Aversion, Rural-Urban Wage Differentiation and Migration." Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No. 108, 1992.
Forthcoming Books
Xu, Chenggang. Institutional Genes: The Origins of China’s Institutions and Totalitarianism. Cambridge University Press (English version), to be published in 2023.
Xu, Chenggang. Institutional Genes: The Origins of China’s Institutions and Totalitarianism. Taiwan University Press (Chinese Version), to be published in 2023.
Xu Chenggang's Collected Works, Volumes 2-5, forthcoming.