Publications
"Connecting the Countryside via E-Commerce: Evidence from China," with Victor Couture, Benjamin Faber, and Yizhen Gu, American Economic Review: Insights 2021, 3(1): 35–50.
"The Rise of Data Politics: Digital China and the World", Studies in Comparative International Development, March 2021.
"Taobao, Federalism, and the Emergence of Law, Chinese Style," with Barry R. Weingast, Minnesota Law Review, 2018, Vol. 102, No.4
- [Preprint Version][Data][Paper Summary in Chinese]
- Policy Briefs: [Article on VoxChina][Article on VoxDev]
- Web of Science ESI "Highly Cited Paper" (Top 1% cited in the "Economics & Business" field by publication year, as of Nov/Dec 2025)
- Featured in World Trade Report 2018, World Development Report 2020, J-PAL, AEA Research Highlight, World Bank Blog, Luohan Academy
- Abstract: This paper estimates the impact of the first nation-wide e-commerce expansion program on rural households. To do so, we combine a randomized control trial with new survey and administrative microdata. In contrast to existing case studies, we find little evidence for income gains to rural producers and workers. Instead, the gains are driven by a reduction in cost of living for a minority of rural households who tend to be younger, richer and in more remote markets. These effects are mainly due to overcoming logistical barriers to e-commerce, rather than to additional investments to adapt e-commerce to the rural population.
- Keywords: E-Commerce, trade integration, economic development, rural-urban divide
"The Rise of Data Politics: Digital China and the World", Studies in Comparative International Development, March 2021.
- [PDF][Article Link (Open Access)][Podcast Interview]
- Translated into Chinese and Reprinted in Bijiao (Comparative Studies), 2025, Issue 6, CITIC Press.
- Featured in South China Morning Post, Jiemian News, The Paper (澎湃新闻), The China Project (SupChina), CSIS Pekingology
- Abstract: Data has become one of the most valuable assets for governments and firms. Yet, we still have a limited understanding of how data reshapes international economic relations. This paper explores various aspects of data politics through the lens of China’s digital rise and the country’s global engagement. I start with the theoretical premise that data differs from traditional strategic assets (e.g., land, oil, and labor), in that it is nonrival and partially excludable. These characteristics have generated externality, commitment, and valuation problems, triggering three fundamental changes in China’s external economic relations. First, data’s externality problem makes it necessary for states to regulate data or even to pursue data sovereignty. However, clashes over data sovereignty can ignite conflicts between China and other countries. Second, the commitment problem in data use raises global concerns about foreign government surveillance. As data is easier to transfer across borders than physical commodities, Chinese tech companies’ investments abroad are vulnerable to national security investigations by foreign regulators. Chinese tech companies, therefore, confront a “deep versus broad” dilemma: deep ties with the Chinese government help promote their domestic business but jeopardize their international expansion. Lastly, data’s valuation problem makes traditional measures (e.g., GDP) ill-suited to measure the relative strengths of the world’s economies, which may distort perceptions of China and other states.
- Keywords: China, Data, Politics of Technology, Privacy, Surveillance
"Taobao, Federalism, and the Emergence of Law, Chinese Style," with Barry R. Weingast, Minnesota Law Review, 2018, Vol. 102, No.4
- [Abstract][PDF]
- Reprinted in Anupam Chandler and Haochen Sun eds., Digital Sovereignty. (Oxford University Press, 2023).
- Featured in: Kleros, Jiemian News
- All developing countries face the problem of how to build the legal and institutional infrastructure (for example, securing property rights and the rule of law) necessary to support efficient markets. The historic path for the West involved parliaments and independent judiciaries that constrained the ruler. China’s path has differed considerably; from the beginning, it involved “federalism, Chinese style.”
This Article explains how private actors are devising new institutional rules in China that hold the promise of creating what we call “law, Chinese style.” Taobao—China’s dominant online trading platform with over four hundred million users—is not simply an exchange platform, but one in the process of developing a modern legal system that enforces contracts, resolves disputes, and prevents fraud. We argue that the delegation implicit in law, Chinese style, parallels China’s earlier reforms during the 1980s and early 1990s that helped create federalism, Chinese style. In parallel with the earlier delegation, the new form of delegation also involves the delegation of authority and policy experimentation. Importantly, this approach to legal development is much less politically constraining on the central government than the Western approach. - Additionally, the emergence of Taobao’s national market has important political and economic effects, especially with respect to federalism. From the beginning of the reform process, the Chinese common market has been hindered by internal trade barriers. Taobao’s national market holds the potential to circumvent internal trade barriers and grant tens of millions of rural people access to markets previously beyond their grasp.
As Taobao becomes larger in user base, it gains more political clout with the central government—and it is more likely to raise suspicions from the government as well. It remains to be seen, therefore, whether, and to what extent, Taobao and the central government will be able to continue their collaboration as circumstances change.
Working Papers
"Incumbent's Advantage via Expertise Asymmetry: Revitalization of the Chinese Pearl Industry with Livestreaming", with Rebecca Karp, Wesley Koo & Liaodan Zhang, R&R
"Exporting Automation, Not Just Goods: Evidence from China's Industrial Robot Exports," with Zhengrui Cheng and Shiliang Cui
"Solving the Authoritarian’s Legal Dilemma through the Private Provision of Law," with Barry R. Weingast
"How Digital Regulation in Democracies Can Unintentionally Benefit Autocratic Regimes," with Rongbin Han, Yingdan Lu, and Li Shao
"The Political and Economic Impact of MNC Value Chains in the China Shock," with Dennis P. Quinn
"Turning the Blade Inward: Deregulation to Discipline the Bureaucracy," with Reed Lei
"Playing Catch-up: How Authoritarian Courts Handle Transnational IP Litigation," with Jian Xu and Xiaohan Wu
"Regulatory Protection and the Concentration of Trade: Evidence from Chinese Customs Data," with Robert Gulotty, Xiaojun Li, and Wei Lin, [PDF]
- Finalist, Best Proposal Award for Creativity in Research, Strategic Management Society (Competitive Strategy Interest Group)
- [PDF]
"Exporting Automation, Not Just Goods: Evidence from China's Industrial Robot Exports," with Zhengrui Cheng and Shiliang Cui
- [PDF]
"Solving the Authoritarian’s Legal Dilemma through the Private Provision of Law," with Barry R. Weingast
- [PDF]
"How Digital Regulation in Democracies Can Unintentionally Benefit Autocratic Regimes," with Rongbin Han, Yingdan Lu, and Li Shao
"The Political and Economic Impact of MNC Value Chains in the China Shock," with Dennis P. Quinn
"Turning the Blade Inward: Deregulation to Discipline the Bureaucracy," with Reed Lei
"Playing Catch-up: How Authoritarian Courts Handle Transnational IP Litigation," with Jian Xu and Xiaohan Wu
"Regulatory Protection and the Concentration of Trade: Evidence from Chinese Customs Data," with Robert Gulotty, Xiaojun Li, and Wei Lin, [PDF]
Work in Progresss
"Opium for the Masses? Field Experimental Evidence on How Consumption Shapes Political Beliefs," data analysis
Other Publications
Op-ed, Financial Times, “E-commerce Can Ease Social Ills in China’s Villages,” with Wesley Koo (Stanford),
Op-ed, Jiemian News (界面新闻), "特朗普卸任，但关于政治极化和平台审查的争论还远未结束," with Xibai Xu [Link]
Article translated into Chinese, The Paper (澎湃新闻), “数据政治缘何兴起，影响几何,” in Chinese [Link]
Op-ed, The Paper (澎湃新闻), “Observations from Taobao (e-Commerce) Villages,” in Chinese [Link]
Book Chapter, “Junpu: The E-Commerce Village,” with Yi Wang (SWUFE), in China's Taobao Villages. Beijing, China: Electronic Industry Press, 2015, in Chinese, translated into English and released in India and the UK
Op-ed, Jiemian News (界面新闻), "特朗普卸任，但关于政治极化和平台审查的争论还远未结束," with Xibai Xu [Link]
Article translated into Chinese, The Paper (澎湃新闻), “数据政治缘何兴起，影响几何,” in Chinese [Link]
Op-ed, The Paper (澎湃新闻), “Observations from Taobao (e-Commerce) Villages,” in Chinese [Link]
Book Chapter, “Junpu: The E-Commerce Village,” with Yi Wang (SWUFE), in China's Taobao Villages. Beijing, China: Electronic Industry Press, 2015, in Chinese, translated into English and released in India and the UK