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International Economics Commons

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Regional Economics

Singapore Management University

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in International Economics

Migration And Resource Misallocation In China, Xiaolu Li, Lin Ma, Yang Tang Mar 2024

Migration And Resource Misallocation In China, Xiaolu Li, Lin Ma, Yang Tang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We structurally estimate the firm-level frictions across prefectures in China and quantify their aggregate and distributional implications. Based on a general equilibrium model with input and output distortions and migration, we show that the firm-level frictions are less dispersed and less correlated with firm productivity in richer prefectures. Counterfactual exercises show that reducing the within-prefecture misallocation increases aggregate welfare, discourages migration toward large prefectures, and reduces spatial inequality. Moreover, internal migration alleviates micro-frictions’ impacts on aggregate welfare and worsens their effects on spatial inequality.


Migration And Spatial Misallocation In China, Xiaolu Li, Lin Ma, Yang Tang Apr 2023

Migration And Spatial Misallocation In China, Xiaolu Li, Lin Ma, Yang Tang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We structurally estimate the firm-level frictions across prefectures in China and quantify their aggregate and distributional implications. Based on a general equi-librium model with input and output distortions and migration, we show that the firm-level frictions are less dispersed and less correlated with productivity in richer prefectures. Counterfactual exercises show that reducing the within-prefecture mis-allocation increases the aggregate welfare, discourages migration towards large cities, and narrows the spatial inequality. Moreover, internal migration alleviates the impacts of micro-frictions on aggregate welfare and worsens their impacts on spatial inequality.


Geography, Trade And Power-Law Phenomena, Pao-Li Chang, Wen-Tai Hsu Sep 2018

Geography, Trade And Power-Law Phenomena, Pao-Li Chang, Wen-Tai Hsu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This article provides a review on the theories of various power-law phenomena related to geography and trade. In particular, we focus our discussion on the gravity equation of trade flows, the power law in firm size, and the link between the two - highlighting the roles of geography and trade in the theoretical modeling. We also discuss how these two power-law phenomena may be related to other power-law phenomena, such as those in income, firm productivity and city size.