Exposure to political movements may influence individuals' behavior, such as decisions on fields of study. On the basis of the Hong Kong Population Census 2011 and 2016, this paper investigates the difference in fields of study between two cohorts, one exposed to the Occupy Central movement in 2014, by applying the cohort difference-in-differences approach. As a global business center, business-related fields of study have been popular among students in Hong Kong. However, the political movement triggered the interests of young people to study several nonbusiness-related fields, such as humanities, social and behavioral sciences, life sciences, health, and law. Significant differences in the effect exist across language speaking, household income, and gender. The study shows that political movement may affect education by triggering public awareness of related knowledge, but it varies by human capital, identity, and family background.

It has been proven that language is a symbol of culture and politics. This study investigates the cohort effect of the Hong Kong's handover on the language speaking in adulthood based on the 2006 and 2011 Hong Kong population censuses. We find that Mandarin is more likely to be used by Hong Kong natives who were exposed to the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 during their school-age years, especially for the generation that were exposed during their primary-school years. Besides, the Hong Kong natives who experienced the handover in their school-age years insist on speaking Mandarin even when the political environment changes from the year 2006 to 2011. Our evidences reveal that political change that occurs during school-age years has a long-term impact on an individual's behavior in their later adulthood. Further discussion implies that exposure to political change such as regime transfer during school-age years impacts individual's national identity.

This paper quantifies the Chinese consumers' boycott of Japanese cars that immediately followed the anti-Japanese demonstrations in September 2012. We decompose the total boycott effect into two effects: the transfer effect, which refers to consumers switching from Japanese to non-Japanese brands, and the cancellation effect, which captures decline in sales due to consumers exiting the market. We find that the cancellation effect accounts for more than 90% of the total decline in Japanese car sales, implying a small substitution effect in the automobile market, even though brands of all other countries have benefited. This paper provides evidence of both negative and positive impacts of political conflicts for different market participants and includes analysis with welfare implications.

This paper analyzes the effects of second languages skills on labor market outcomes in Hong Kong. Using data from the Hong Kong Population Censuses, we find that both Mandarin and English language skills are linked to improved labor market performance, and the premiums for English are much larger than those for Mandarin. We further show that the sovereignty transfer of Hong Kong from the UK to China in 1997 has strengthened the positive role of Mandarin and English language skills in finding a job in Hong Kong. The political change has also increased the earnings of people with the ability to speak Mandarin. As a comparison, the earnings premium for speaking English has declined in magnitude after the sovereignty transfer. Investigating into the mechanisms, we show that the rising premiums for Mandarin language skills are operated through choices of occupations and industry sectors. Our findings suggest that important political changes can affect the economic returns to language skills in the labor market.