Research

Research

Working Papers

• The Policy Preferences of Senior Civil Servants (with Shaheen Naseer, Sultan Mehmood, and Shachar Kariv), 2025.
• Strategic Capture of Monitors: Evidence from Pollution Control in China (with Naide Ye and Yongxiang Wang), 2025.
• Political Persuasion in the Information Age: Results from a Field Experiment (with Yiying Li and Meng Miao), 2025.
• The Economic Benefits of Mixed Decentralization: Evidence from China’s First Secretary Program (with Jiangze Du, Arko Sarkar, Chao Yang, and Jian Zhang), 2025.
• Strong Support, Weak Policies: Views on Corruption of Citizens and Legislators in Three Countries (with Matteo Ferroni and Miriam Golden), 2025.
• Electoral Incentives and Government Transparency: Evidence from Freedom of Information Requests (with Aron Malatinszky and Eyub Yegen), 2025. Appendix material
• Information-Optional Policies and the Gender Concealment Gap (with Christine Exley, Judd Kessler Louis-Pierre Lepage, Xiaomeng Li, Corinne Low, Xiaoyue Shan, Mattie Toma, and Basit Zafar), 2024.

Refereed Publications

• Investing in Influence: Investors, portfolio firms, and political giving (with Marianne Bertrand, Matilde Bombardini, Francesco Trebbi, and Eyub Yegen), forthcoming, Review of Economic Studies, 2025.
• Dirty Air, Clean Investment: The impact of pollution information on ESG investment (with Pulak Ghosh, Arko Sarkar, and Jian Zhang), forthcoming, Journal of Financial Economics 2025.
• The Undoing of Economic Sanctions: Evidence from the Russia-Ukraine conflict (with Giovanna Marcolongo and Meng Wu), forthcoming, Journal of Public Economics, 2025.
• The costs and benefits of clan culture: Elite control versus cooperation in China
  (with Shuo Chen, Xiaohuan Lan, Yongxiang Wang and Qing Ye), forthcoming, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 2025.
• Physician Altruism and Spending, Hospital Admissions, and Emergency Department Visits (with Lawrence Casalino, Shachar Kariv, Daniel Markovits and Jing Li), JAMA Health Forum, 2024.
• Whose preferences matter for redistribution: Cross-country evidence (with Alain Cohn, Michel André Maréchal, and Jeffrey Yusof),  JPE: Micro, 2025.
• Rules, Discretion, and Corruption in Procurement: Evidence from Italian Government Contracting (with Francesco Decarolis, Paolo Pinotti, and Silvia Vannutelli), JPE: Micro, 2025.
• Universalism and Political Representation: Evidence from the Field (with Ben Enke, Luis Motas Freitas, and Steven Sun), forthcoming, AER: Insights, 2024.
• Corruption and Firm Growth: Evidence from Around the World (with Sergei Guriev, Carolin Ioramashvili, and Alexander Plekhanov),  Economic Journal, 2024.
• The impact of socioeconomic and cultural differences on online trade (with Dan Elfenbein and Brian McManus), Management Science, 2023.
• Reference points and redistributive preferences: Experimental evidence (with Jimmy Charite, Ilyana Kuziemko, and Kewei Zhang), Journal of Public Economics, 2022.
• Superstition and risk-taking: Evidence from “zodiac year” beliefs in China (with Wei Huang, Bo Ning, Yue Pan, Jiaping Qiu, and Yongxiang Wang), Management Science, 2022.
• Political Beta (with April Knill, Sergey Mityakov, and Margarita Portnykh), Review of Finance, 2022.
• Gender and Bureaucratic Corruption: Evidence from Two Countries (with Francesco Decarolis, Paolo Pinotti, Silvia Vannutelli, and Yongxiang Wang), Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 2022.
• Hall of Mirrors: Corporate Philanthropy and Strategic Advocacy (with Marianne Bertrand, Matilde Bombardini, Brad Hackinen, and Francesco Trebbi), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2021.
• What motivates non-democratic leadership: Evidence from COVID-19 reopenings in China Journal of Public Economics (with C. Sun, Y. Wang, and D. Zhao), Journal of Public Economics, 2021.
• Hometown favoritism and the quality of government monitoring: Evidence from rotation of Chinese auditors (with J. Chu, S. Tan, and Y. Wang), AEJ: Applied, 2021.
• Distributional Preferences in larger groups: Keeping up with the Joneses and keeping track of the tails (with Ilyana Kuziemko and Silvia Vannutelli), Journal of the European Economic Association, 2021. Online Appendix
• Do Americans want to tax capital? Evidence from Online Surveys (with Keith Gladstone, Ilyana Kuziemko, and Suresh Naidu), Journal of Public Economics, 2020.
• Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence (with Marianne Bertrand, Matilde Bombardini, and Francesco Trebbi), American Economic Review, 2020.
• Social Ties and the Selection of China’s Political Elite (with Jing Shi, Yongxiang Wang, and Weixing Wu), American Economic Review, 2020.
• Experience of Communal Conflicts and Inter-group Lending (with Arkodipta Sarkar, Janis Skrastins, and Vikrant Vig), Journal of Political Economy, 2020.
• An Event Long-Short Index: Theory and Applications (with Eric Zitzewitz), American Economic Review: Insights, 2019.
• Air Pollution, Affect, and Forecasting Bias: Evidence from Chinese Financial Analysts (with Rui Dong, Raymond Fisman, Yongxiang Wang, and Nianhang Xu), Journal of Financial Economics, 2019.
• Peer Effects in Legislative Voting (with Nikolaj Harmon and Emir Kamenica), AEJ: Applied, 2019.
• Does Cheap Talk Affect Market Outcomes: Evidence from eBay (with Daniel Elfenbein and Brian McManus), AEJ: Applied, 2019.
• Social Ties and Favoritism in Chinese Science (with J. Shi, Y. Wang, and R. Xu), Journal of Political Economy, 2018.
• Distributional Preferences and Political Behavior (with Pamela Jakiela and Shachar Kariv), Journal of Public Economics, 2017.
• Cultural Proximity and Loan Outcomes: Evidence from an Indian Bank (with Daniel Paravisini and Vikrant Vig), American Economic Review, 2017.
• The distortionary effects of incentives in government: Evidence from China’s “death ceiling” program (with Yongxiang Wang), American Economic Journal: Applied, 2016.
• Human Capital and the Supply of Religion (with Joey Engelberg, Jay Hartzell, and Chris Parsons), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2016.
• How Did the Great Recession Impact Social Preferences? (with Pamela Jakiela and Shachar Kariv), Journal of Public Economics, 2016.
• The Distributional Preferences of an Elite (with Pamela Jakiela, Shachar Kariv, and Daniel Markovits), Science, 2015.
• The Mortality Cost of Political Connections (with Yongxiang Wang), Review of Economic Studies, 2015
• Labor Supply of Politicians (with Nikolaj Harmon, Emir Kamenica, and Inger Munk), Journal of the European Economic Association, 2015.
• The Private Returns to Public Office (with Florian Schulz and Vikrant Vig), Journal of Political Economy, 2015.
• Market Structure, Reputation, and the Value of Quality Certification (with Daniel Elfenbein and Brian McManus), AEJ: Micro, 2014.
• Nationalism and Economic Exchange: Evidence from Shocks to Sino-Japanese Relations (with Yasushi Hamao and Yongxiang Wang), Review of Financial Studies, 2014
• Contrast Effects in Sequential Decisions: Evidence from Speed Dating (with Saurabh Bhargava), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2014.
• Corruption in Chinese Privatizations (with Yongxiang Wang), Journal of Law, Economics, and Organizations, 2014
• Governance and CEO Turnover: Do Something or Do the Right Thing? (with Rakesh Khurana, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, and Soojin Yim), Management Science, 2013.
• Estimating the Value of Connections to Vice-President Cheney (with David Fisman, Julia Galef, Rakesh Khurana, and Yongxiang Wang), The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Advances, 2012.
• Charity as a substitute for reputation: Evidence from an online marketplace (with Daniel Elfenbein and Brian McManus), Review of Economic Studies, 2012.
• Profiting from Government Stakes in a Command Economy: Evidence from Chinese Asset Sales (with Charles Calomiris and Yongxiang Wang), Journal of Financial Economics, 2011.
• Regulation of Entry and the Distortion of Industrial Organization, (with Virginia Sarria-Allende), Journal of Applied Economics, 2010.
• The Smuggling of Art and the Art of Smuggling: Uncovering the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property and Antiques (with Shang-Jin Wei), American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2009.
• Gender and Workplace Perceptions Around the World: Evidence from the World Values Survey (with Maura O’Neill), Journal of Human Resources, 2009.
• Offshoring Tariff Evasion: Evidence from Hong Kong as Entrepôt Trader (with Peter Moustakerski and Shang-Jin Wei), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2008.
• Limits to Policy Reversal: Privatization in India (with Siddhartha G. Dastidar and Tarun Khanna), Journal of Financial Economics, 2008.
• Racial Preferences in Dating (with Sheena Iyengar, Emir Kamenica, & Itamar Simonson), Review of Economic Studies, 2008.
• Corruption, Norms, and Legal Enforcement: Evidence from UN Diplomatic Parking Tickets (with Edward Miguel), Journal of Political Economy, 2007.
• Consistency, Heterogeneity, and Granularity of Individual Behavior under Uncertainty (with Syngjoo Choi, Douglas Gale, and Shachar Kariv), American Economic Review, 2007.
• Individual Preferences for Giving (with Shachar Kariv & Daniel Markovits), American Economic Review, 2007. (Note that this paper is a combination of an earlier verison of this paper, Pareto Damaging Behaviors, and Distinguishing Social Preferences from Preferences for Altruism.)
• Do Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Increase International Technology Transfer? Empirical Evidence from U.S. Firm-Level Panel Data (with Lee Branstetter and C. Fritz Foley), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2006.
• Gender Differences in Mate Selection: Evidence from a Speed Dating Experiment (with Sheena Iyengar, Emir Kamenica, and Itamar Simonson), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2006.
• Are Corruption and Taxation Really Harmful to Growth? Firm Level Evidence (with Jakob Svensson), Journal of Development Economics, 2006.
• Financial Development and Intersectoral Allocation: A New Approach (with Inessa Love),Journal of Finance, 2004.
• Precautionary Savings and the Governance of Nonprofit Organizations (with R. Glenn Hubbard), Journal of Public Economics, 2005.
• The Effect of Foreign Competition on Forecasting Bias, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2005.
• Tax Rates and Tax Evasion: Evidence from “Missing” Imports in China (with Shang-Jin Wei),Journal of Political Economy, 2004.
• Does Competition Encourage Cooperation? Evidence from Trade Credit Relationships of African Firms (with Mayank Raturi), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2004.
• Are Politicians Really Paid Like Bureaucrats? (with Rafael Di Tella), Journal of Law and Economics, 2004.
• Facilitating Development: The Role of Business Groups (with Tarun Khanna), World Development, 2004.
• Ethnic Ties and the Provision of Credit: Relationship-Level Evidence from African Firms, Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy, 2003.
• Trade Credit, Financial Intermediary Development, and Industry Growth (with Inessa Love), Journal of Finance, 2003.
• Decentralization and Corruption: Evidence from U.S. Federal Transfer Programs (with Roberta Gatti), Public Choice, 2002.
• Estimating the Value of Political Connections, American Economic Review, 2001.
• Are Women Really the ‘Fairer’ Sex? Corruption and Women in Goverment (with David Dollar and Roberta Gatti), Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2001.
• Trade Credit and Productive Efficiency in Developing Countries, World Development, 2001.
• Is Trust a Historical Residue? Information Flows and Trust Levels (with Tarun Khanna),Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 1999.
• Cultural Influences on Symptom Presentation in Childhood (with Sandra Fisman), Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1999.

Other publications

• Innovations in Governance (with Eric Werker), Innovation Policy and the Economy, 2011.
• Trading favors within Chinese business groups (with Yongxiang Wang), AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2010.
• Revealing Preferences Graphically: An Old Method Gets a New Tool Kit (with Syngjoo Choi, Douglas Gale, and Shachar Kariv), American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, 2007.