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Using panel data from China’s publicly listed companies (PLCs), this paper investigates the relationship between acquisitions and executive compensation. Empirical analysis based on panel regression reveals that acquisitions lead to a significant increase in executive compensation. Further evaluation, using disaggregated data, shows that acquisitions have a significant and positive impact of executive compensation of state-owned PLCs, but its effect on executive compensation paid by private-owned PLCs is statistically insignificant. The state-owned PLCs give less weight to financial performance compared with private-owned PLCs. State ownership and shareholding concentration increase the executive compensation, which gives rise to a principal–principal type problem. Moreover, using the generalized propensity score (GPS) methodology, which allows one to control for the presence of the selection bias, we find that the compensation-increasing effect of acquisitions for the top executive managers is higher than the effect for the top board directors. Finally, once the selection bias is taken into account, we find that acquisitions have almost no effect on the compensation of lower level executive managers and board directors, which suggests the presence of a principal–agent type problem in the two-tiered governance structure of the Chinese PLCs.

The effect of emotion on memory often leads to the trade-off: enhanced memory for emotional items comes at the cost of memory for background information. Although this effect is usually attributed to overt attention during encoding, Steinmetz and Kensinger (2013) proposed that such an effect might also be related to post-stimulus elaboration. Based on previous different viewpoints, we used the directed forgetting paradigm to further explore the effect of post-stimulus elaboration on the memory trade-off. In the meantime, we also tested the roles of background valence and item salience (high salient items were placed in the centre of backgrounds while low salient items were placed in the periphery of backgrounds) in modulating the memory trade-off. Our results showed that there was a memory trade-off when backgrounds were neutral, whereas this was no longer the case when backgrounds were negative. This indicated the memory trade-off might be affected by background valence. Meanwhile, we found post-stimulus elaboration contributed to selective memory enhancement for backgrounds, while item salience enhanced item memory performance in the memory trade-off. These findings suggest the emotion-induced memory trade-off may be a complex memory effect, which can be influenced by different factors to varying degrees.

Using the China Family Panel Studies, we identify the subjects studied by vocational college and university graduates, with the latter group further divided into ordinary and key universities. Whil...

Using data over the 2009–2016 period, this paper examines the impact of star power on box office revenues in China. Unlike most existing studies, we measure star power as a continuous variable based on the number of registered fans of movie stars on the most popular microblogging website in China (Sina Weibo). We also examine the impact of star power on box office revenues through three important channels (industry recognition, internet media evaluation, and internet media buzz). Estimation of log-linear specifications shows that directors play an important role in the financial success of movies in China. The direct effect of star power on the financial success of movies is negative, and the same applies to the direct effect of internet media evaluation. The indirect quality effect of star power through industry recognition is positive but insignificant. The marginal effect of industry recognition becomes significantly positive only when the level of star power reaches the second quartile of its distribution. The indirect signal effect of star power through internet media evaluation is negative and statistically significant. However, the indirect signal effect through internet media buzz is positive and significant at all levels of star power and this effect dominates the negative direct effect of star power once it reaches a threshold level. Endogeneity-corrected estimation results confirm that the total effect of star power on box office revenues in China is positive and significant. The Chinese movie industry, which appears to be dominated by low-quality movies, can benefit from further reforms.

This study investigates the association between income and unmet need for personal assistance with daily activities and introduces four policy options for financial support for the unmet need, particularly the public long-term care insurance (LTCI) system. Using the logit model and random forest algorithm, we find that household income is a significant contributing factor to unmet need. Moreover, we find that older adults in the low-income group have a higher level of unmet needs. China's policy experimentation shows that financial support can be provided in the policy arrangements of LTCI financing with low individual contributions and benefits with a high reimbursement rate.

Mastocytosis is an accumulation of clonal mast cells within tissues and it is most commonly caused by an activating mutation in the KIT gene. In this study, we report a neonatal case who presented with diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis (CM) at birth. In China, nine other cases of neonatal-onset CM have been reported in the literature since 2006. In those cases, diffuse CM and urticaria pigmentosa were the main symptoms, and mutations in exon 17 at codon 816 in KIT were identified.

Lili Kang, 1, 2,* Shangyuan Ye, 3,* Kangzhen Jing, 4 Yancun Fan, 2 Qihui Chen, 5 Ning Zhang, 6, 7 Bo Zhang 8 1Center for Health Policy and Management Studies, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Health Management, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 4Department of Medical Affair, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China; 5Center for Food and Health Economic Research, College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA; 7Meyers Primary Care Institute, A Joint Endeavor of University of Massachusetts Medical School, Reliant Medical Group, and Fallon Health, Worcester, MA, USA; 8Department of Neurology and ICCTR Biostatistics and Research Design Center, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Bo Zhang; Shangyuan Ye Email bo.zhang@childrens.harvard.edu; shangyuan_ye@harvardpilgrim.orgObjective: This study evaluated change in caesarean section rate with reform of birth planning policy in China from one-child to two-child policy.Methods: Study data were collected from patient-level hospital records of 59,668 pregnant women who visited three major urban hospitals in Jiangsu Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China between January 2012 and December 2016. A segmented logistic regression approach was developed to evaluate the changes in caesarean section rate in these regions with the launch of China’s new partial and universal two-child policies in January 2014 and January 2016, respectively.Results: Jiangsu Province had a significantly lower non-emergency caesarean rate (Jiangsu 8.15% vs Inner Mongolia 34.03%, p < 0.001) and a much lower percentage of minority population (Jiangsu 6.99% vs Inner Mongolia 21.76%, p < 0.001) than Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In Jiangsu Province, no change in caesarean section rate was detected with the two-child policies (all p-values > 0.05), although the unadjusted trend change (0.038, 95% confidence interval or CI: [0.016, 0.060], p < 0.001) in log odds after the implementation of the partial two-child policy was statistically significant. In Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, an immediate jump in caesarean section rate was discovered by the segmented logistic regression with the implementation of both the partial (unadjusted level change 0.297, CI: [0.105, 0.489], p = 0.002) and universal two-child policies (unadjusted level change 1.945, CI: [1.277, 2.614], p < 0.001); but the rate reverted to the previous level thereafter. Ethnicity, maternal age, maternal reproduction history, insurance coverage type, infant weight, and infant gender were the significant factors associated with caesarean section rate (for odds ratios, all p-values < 0.05). However, the significance of infant gender may stem from the large sample size of the study and is not clinically meaningful.Conclusion: Change in caesarean section rate was not observed with the launch of two-child policy in China.Keywords: one-child policy, two-child policy, caesarean section, segmented logistic regression &nbsp

This paper investigates the relationship between China&rsquo, s trade agreements (TAs) and partner countries&rsquo, upgrade in global value chains (GVCs). We focus on the experience of China and relate China&rsquo, s TAs with one belt and one road (OBOR) initiative. A structural equation model (SEM) is applied on a dataset including 216 countries and regions to identify the direct and indirect effects of China&rsquo, s TAs and OBOR initiative on its export, outwards foreign direct investment (OFDI) and partner economy&rsquo, GVCs upgrade over the period 2010&ndash, 2015. We find that China&rsquo, s TA partner countries are more likely to be included in the OBOR initiative than those non-TA partner countries. The positive effects of China&rsquo, s TAs and OBOR initiative on China&rsquo, s export, outwards foreign direct investment (OFDI) and partner countries&rsquo, upgrade in GVCs differ across country groups at the different locations of GVCs. Both vertical and horizontal spillover effects exist in China&rsquo, s TAs. Therefore, the partner countries at low end and middle of GVCs might benefit more from TAs with China than those richer countries at the high end of GVCs.

Objective To assess the rural–urban disparity in caesarean section rates using electronic health records from hospitals located in the Province of Inner Mongolia, which is a minority area in Northeastern China. Methods The study examined the electronic health records of women that gave birth in three major public hospitals between January 2012 and December 2016. Multinomial regression analyses were used to estimate rural–urban disparities in caesarean section rates. Results Data from 61 903 women were examined. Caesarean section rates increased slightly over the study period and the rate was significantly higher in rural compared with urban hospitals (48% versus 38%). This disparity consistently increased over time. Multinomial regression analyses showed that maternal age, ethnicity, health insurance type, employment status, reproductive history and the newborn’s sex were significant risk factors associated with caesarean section rate. Furthermore, stratified analysis of first-time pregnancies, minorities and different age groups showed that the odds of undergoing an emergency caesarean section was lower in the rural hospital, but the odds of undergoing a planned caesarean section was higher in the rural hospital. Conclusions Caesarean section rates have increased in rural areas and the disparity in rural–urban areas has increased substantially over the years.

Within the context of corporate acquisition decisions of China's Publicly Listed Corporations (PLCs), this paper investigates the monitoring and coordination behaviour of institutional shareholders. Institutional shareholders are divided into four groups: large outsider, large insider, small outsider and small insider. The outsider and insider categorization, respectively, represents the absence of significant business links with relevant PLCs. In China, institutional shareholders tend to either monitor the acquisitions decisions of PLCs or coordinate their response with the controlling shareholders (coordination in the present context amounts to cooperation). Using micro data from China's stock market over the 2003–2008 period, we find that (through ex-ante coordination with the controlling shareholders) the insider institutional investment tends to increase the likelihood of PLC acquisitions. However, through ex-ante monitoring of the PLC acquisition offers, the outsider institutional investment tends to decrease the acquisition likelihood. We find that, through ex-post monitoring of PLC acquisitions, institutional investors with large shareholdings can help improve the post-acquisition performance of Chinese PLCs. On the other hand, institutional investors with small shareholdings tend to coordinate their actions with the controlling shareholders. Accordingly, small institutional shareholders cannot affect the post-acquisition performance of China's PLCs. Finally, we find that the so-called ‘cherry-picking effect’ exists only in the case of large outsider institutional investors. © 2018 Elsevier Inc.

This article estimates the economic returns to education in China from 1989 to 2009 using the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) dataset. We find that education returns for one additional year generally increase from 2.6% in 1989 to 7.9% in 2009. Education returns, however, may reflect signals of innate ability or the accumulation of human capital. Moreover, traditional ordinary least square estimates may be biased by selection problems and mix-ups of age group heterogeneity. We therefore estimate the marginal effects of schooling with increasing labour market experience using the Heckman selection model. We find that the education returns for one additional year decline with labour market experience, which supports the human capital hypothesis for all age groups except the group educated during the Cultural Revolution. Different dynamics of education returns in the four age groups are identified with the large influence of institutional reforms in the labour market, supporting the transition explan...

Wage flexibility in the Chinese labour market, 1989–2009. Regional Studies. China’s bureaucratic wage determination system is gradually being replaced by a market-based system, leading to a novel version of a dual labour market. This paper studies wage flexibility in this dual market. Its principal findings are as follows: wages in both sectors have become less responsive to changes in official registered unemployment, with an alternative market-based measure of unemployment becoming more relevant; there is evidence of convergence of flexibility between the two sectors; the wages of women exhibit greater flexibility than those of men; and there is evidence of differences in wage flexibility between workers who have urban residential rights and rural migrants.

This paper investigates the effect of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative on China&rsquo, s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) using a dataset of all host countries for the period of 2010&ndash, 2015. The employed econometric technique combines a difference-in-differences estimator with matching techniques. The results show that China&rsquo, s OFDI in OBOR countries is about 40% higher than in non-OBOR countries. After the initiative, the OFDI from China increases by 46.2% in OBOR countries. However, after controlling for the heterogeneity across OBOR and non-OBOR countries using the matching approach, the significance of the increasing effect caused by the OBOR initiative disappears. We also find the OBOR initiative diminishes the resource-seeking motivation and improves the market-seeking motivation of China&rsquo, s OFDI. Our results cast doubts on the infrastructure-led and institution-based strategy of the OBOR initiative, but support the boosting effect of the OBOR initiative on institutional cooperation and cultural convergence. Thus, the OBOR initiative is a sustainable continuation and development of the long tradition of economic, institutional, and cultural convergence with the OBOR countries, rather than a temporary policy shock.

This paper examines provincial disparities and convergence of sectors in China from a labour cost perspective. We find that the provinces in the Northeast and Coastal regions have strong advantages in the manufacturing sector, while the Primary sector, Construction and Real estate sectors have better cost competitiveness in the Interior and West regions. The decrease of relative unit labour cost (RULC) is mainly due to the faster growth rates of relative labour productivity (RLP) than the growth rate of relative nominal labour costs (RNLC) in most cases. A decomposition analysis shows that there are much more cost competitiveness gains, as well as relative decrease of nominal labour costs and labour productivity improvement during the period 1978-1995 than the years afterwards. We find the fast convergence of RULC is consistent with the fast converging RLP among provinces with static wages, suggesting the importance of institutional factors such as rigid wage setting in Chinese labour markets.

This paper investigates the roles that institutional investors play in the acquisitions in China. We conceptualize a strategic alliance model on acquisition decision in which institutional investor...

This paper presents new data series designed to yield a more complete picture of the growth in average skill levels embedded in the EU workforce, comparing with competitor countries such as the US and China. Harmonised data from EU surveys are employed to extend coverage in existing databases to more countries, to cover the period of the financial crisis, and to skills acquired through informal workforce training. The results indicate growth in labour quality in the EU15 marginally below the US, convergence of the group of new member states to the EU15 but no sign of convergence of China to more developed regions. There is evidence of a pronounced rise in labour quality in most countries after 2007, consistent with theories of labour hoarding, but with some notable exceptions. Expanding the conventional measures of labour quality to include informal training leads to small but significant increases in the growth of human capital in some EU15 member states.