research

My research areas include international economics, organizational economics and firm dynamics. My research topics include (T1) firm organization and management in a global economy, (T2) FDI and multinational firms, and (T3) uncertainty, information and firm dynamics.

Published Papers:

2011:

Information, Incentives and Multinational Firms  Journal of International Economics 85(1): 147-158. T1 and T2

2017:

Management Quality and Firm Organization in Industry Equilibrium  (online appendix) American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 9(4):203-244  (working paper version)   T1 

2019:

The Comparative Statics of Optimal Hierarchies (with Wing Suen)  American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 11(2): 1-25 (working paper version)   T1 

Trade Liberalization, Agency Problem and Aggregate Productivity  European Economic Review 111: 421-442 (working paper version)   T1 

Outward FDI and Domestic Input Distortions: Evidence from Chinese Firms (online appendix)  (with Wei Tian and Miaojie Yu)  Economic Journal 129(624): 3025-3057 (working paper version)   T2

2021:

“Import Competition, Heterogeneous Preferences of Managers and Productivity” (online appendix)   NBER WP version

(with Claudia Steinwender) Journal of International Economics 133.   T1 

2022:

“Learning and Information Transmission within Multinational Corporations” (online appendix)  with Chang Sun, and Hongyong Zhang  European Economic Review 143: 421-442   T2 and T3

2023:

“Uncertainty, Imperfect Information, and Expectation Formation over the Firm’s Life Cycle”  with Chang Sun,  Tatsuro Senga, and Hongyong Zhang   Journal of Monetary Economics  140: 60-77   T2 and T3

Working Papers:

1.  "Multinationals and Structural Transformation"   NBER WP version (under revision)  with V. Alviarez, N. Pandalai-Nayar, L. Varela, Kei-Mu Yi, and H. Zhang     T2

2. “Information Rigidity and Elastic Attention: Evidence from Japan”  (under review)   with Yulei Luo and Takahiro Hattori   T3  Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Money, Credit and Banking

3. “Information Acquisition and Price Setting under Uncertainty: New Survey Evidence”  (draft available upon request)  with Tatsuro Senga, Chang Sun and Hongyong Zhang      T3

4. “Population Growth and Employment Protection” (draft available upon request) with Takahiro Hattori 

5.  “Ownership Network and Production Network: Evidence from Japan” (draft available upon request) with Chang Sun and Hongyong Zhang

Short and Policy Papers:

1. “Expectation Formation and Firm Activities: New evidence from a business outlook survey in Japan" 

        with Chang Sun,  Tatsuro Senga, and Hongyong Zhang    RIETI Discussion Paper Series 18-E-059 (revised in 2022)

  2. “Measuring Business-Level Expectations and Uncertainty: Survey Evidence and the COVID-19 Pandemic” 

        with Tatsuro Senga and Hongyong Zhang   Japanese Economic Review 72: 509-532 (special issue on Covid-19)

        (working paper version)   

  3. “Firm Expectations and Investment: Evidence from the China-Japan Island Dispute” 

        with Chang Sun,  Tatsuro Senga, and Hongyong Zhang    RIETI Discussion Paper Series 16-E-090 (revised in 2022)

Work-in-Progress

Trade-related:

   Anti-dumping Tariffs and Market Interdependence (with Zhang Chen and Chang Sun)

Macro-related:

    Incomplete Information and Investment Inaction (with Jonathan Adams, Min Fang, Takahiro Hattori, and Eugenio Rojas)

    Employment Flexibility and Within-Firm Labor Dynamics (with Santiago Caicedo, Aspen Gorry, and Takahiro Hattori)

Workshops organized:

Globalization workshop (HKU 2018)

Organization workshop (HKU 2018)

RIETI Workshop on Uncertainty, Trade and Firms (Tokyo, Japan 2018)