Heat in the Heartland: Crop Yield and Coverage Response to Climate Change along the Mississippi River

Submitted by Hang Yin on

Farmers may adapt to climate change by substituting away from the crops most severely affected. In this paper we estimate the substitution caused by a moderate change in climate in the US Midwest. We pair a 10-year panel of satellite-based crop coverage with spatially explicit soil data and a fine-scale weather data set. Combining a proportion type model with local regressions, we simultaneously address the econometric issues of proportion dependent variables and spatial correlation of unobserved factors.

Climate Change

Stock Liquidity and Firm Value: Evidence from China

Submitted by Hang Yin on

Empirical evidence for the effect of stock liquidity on firm value is limited and mixed due to a severe endogeneity problem. This article adds to the literature on this topic by providing new empirical evidence using the nontradable share reform in China as a quasi-natural experiment. Our results show that higher stock liquidity can lead to significant firm value improvement.

EfD China Annual Report 2017

Submitted by Eugenia Leon on

The EfD China Report 2017 gives you an excellent overview of the centres´ achievements during 2017 ranging from interesting policy stories on how economic research is put to use around the world to collaborative research programs, a wide range of publications, and our academic capacity efforts. 

Air Pollution and Mental Health: Evidence from China

Submitted by Hang Yin on

A large body of literature estimates the effect of air pollution on health. However, most of these studies have focused on physical health, while the effect on mental health is limited. Using the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) covering 12,615 urban residents during 2014 – 2015, we find significantly positive effect of air pollution – instrumented by thermal inversions – on mental illness.

Health, Air Quality

VIX term structure and VIX futures pricing with realized volatility

Submitted by Hang Yin on

Using an extended LHARG model proposed by Majewski et al. (2015, J Econ, 187, 521–531), we derive the closed‐form pricing formulas for both the Chicago Board Options Exchange VIX term structure and VIX futures with

Temperature and Economic Performance of Chinese Manufacturing Firms

Submitted by Eugenia Leon on
EfD Authors:

This paper uses year-to-year fluctuations in temperature within counties to identify its effects on economic outcomes of Chinese manufacturing firms. We find four primary results. First, profit exhibits nonlinear responses to temperature. Profit decreases with higher summer temperatures and increases with higher winter temperatures. With temperature bins as temperature variables, profit increases with temperature up to 12-15°C, and then declines at higher temperatures.

Policy Design

Spatial Distribution of Coal-Fired Power Plants in China

Submitted by Hang Yin on
EfD Authors:

Coal has fueled China's rapid growth in recent decades, but it also severely pollutes the air and causes many health issues. The magnitude of the health damage caused by air pollution depends on the location of emission sources. In this paper, we look into the spatial distribution of coal-fired power plants, which are the major emission sources in China, and investigate the determining factors behind the distribution.

Energy, Health

Are renewable energy policies climate friendly? The role of capacity constraints and market power

Submitted by Hang Yin on
EfD Authors:

This paper studies the impacts of renewable energy support policies on energy prices, fossil
fuel supply and thus carbon emissions from fossil fuels. Such supports are climate friendly if
the renewables are already competitive against fossil fuels. But if the renewables are not yet
competitive, the climate change impacts are often ambiguous and are sensitive to capacity
constraints of renewables production and to the fossil fuel market structure. If the renewables

Climate Change, Energy