Development | Center for Economic Policy

Working Paper Series How Does Matching Uncertainty Affect Marital Surplus? Theory and Evidence from China Information quality affects matching and marital outcomes. We show in a simple two-dimensional matching model that a noisier cue for one trait leads to a shift in sorting tradeoff toward the other, lowers average welfare but the impact is asymmetric. To test the predictions, we explore the repeal of mandatory premarital health examinations in China. The repeal, increasing health cue noise, is found to have reduced postmarital subjective well-being mainly through a reduction in child health associated with decreased sorting by health. By Li Han, Xinzheng Shi, Ming-ang Zhang

Working Paper Series Do the Media Bow to Foreign Economic Powers? Evidence from a News Website Crackdown By exploiting a large-scale media crackdown in May 2019 in China, in which multiple influential UK- and US-based news sites were blocked, we find that media outlets, after being blocked, published more politically sensitive news on China and adopted a more negative tone in those coverages, compared to those with no access change. However, reporting on non-sensitive economic topics remained unaffected. By Li Han, Heng Chen

Working Paper Series Trading Favours through the Revolving Door: Evidence from China’s Primary Land Market By matching data on land transactions in China’s primary land market with detailed curriculum-vitae of board directors in publicly listed firms, we identify a pattern of “revolving door” exchanges between local officials and firms. The officials discounted the price of land which they sold to the said firms, and were subsequently rewarded with board appointments upon retirement. By Li Han, Ting Chen, James Kung, Jiaxin Xie

Seminar, Lecture, Talk Lunchtime Brown-bag Seminars in Spring 2025 The Center for Economic Policy is organizing lunchtime brown-bag seminars in Spring term at LSK6045. It will be opened to all faculty and students who want to attend. In the one-hour seminar, there will be a presentation by CEP research affiliates, postdoctoral fellow or HKUST PhD students, followed by a Q&A session. The schedule of the seminars in Spring term is as follows:

2025-02-27 ~ 2025-05-29
12:00pm - 1:00pm

Conference, Symposium, Forum 2021 Asia Impact Evaluation Conference The Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management (KDI School), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Center for Economic Policy (CEP) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) are organizing their 2021 conference, “Asia Impact Evaluation Conference” on December 9th and 10th (Hong Kong time, GMT +8). The meeting will be held virtually on Zoom. No registration fee is required. Keynote Speakers Dean Yang (Michigan) and Mushifiq Mobarak (Yale) Organizers

2021-12-09 ~ 2021-12-10
8:50am - 3:40pm

Former Student Research Intern Ramon Ongratanaphol Former Student Research Intern Ramon Ongratanaphol is a final year student majoring in Mathematics and Economics. She is currently assisting Prof. Hyuncheol Bryant Kim as a student research intern in the Center for Economic Policy. She is also working on projects related to Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong under the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

Research Affiliate Edwin L.-C. Lai Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics Edwin Lai is currently Associate Director of the Center for Economic Policy (since 2021). He was Professor of Economics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2009 - 2023), and later jointly appointed as the Director of the Center for Economic Development (2017-2021) and jointly-appointed as Professor in the Division of Public Policy (2018 - 2023). He was Senior Research Economist and Adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas of the Federal Reserve System of the USA, from August 2007 to June 2009.

Research Affiliate Albert Francis Park (On Leave) Chair Professor, Department of Economics
Chair Professor, Division of Social Science
Chair Professor, Division of Public Policy
Chair Professor, Institute for Public Policy
Special Advisor to the Director of HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies Albert Park is a development and labor economist who is an expert on China’s economic development. He is Chair Professor of Economics, Chair Professor of Social Science, and Professor of Public Policy at HKUST. He has been appointed as Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). His research and commentary has appeared in the Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, China Daily, BBC, CNN, NBC, Bloomberg, Freakonomics, and NPR.

Former Student Research Intern King Wang Wong Former Student Research Intern WONG King Wang is an undergraduate student double majoring in Economics and Finance, and in Computer Science. He is currently assisting Prof. Jin Wang to assess the micro-level impact of the BRI. His work primarily focuses on web scraping, data analysis as well as literature review. Before joining CEP as a student research intern, he has been involved in web development and machine learning projects.

Publications Marketing Communist Party membership in China By Li Han, Tao Li