{"title":"Pandemic lockdowns and trust in local government in China","authors":"Yucong Zhao , Ting Wang , Bing Ye","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.11.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.11.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a distinctive opportunity to reassess trust in government by evaluating its performance amidst a critical crisis. This paper employs a generalized difference-in-differences method to probe the causal effects of prolonged lockdown durations on public trust in local governments in China. Drawing on panel data of 44,861 observations from the 2018 and 2020 survey waves, the findings reveal a pervasive decline in government trust caused by extended lockdown durations in China. Specifically, an additional 40 days of lockdown resulted in an average 7.77 % decrease in government trust, with the largest declines seen among individuals with lower education, those born before 1970, those with health issues, and those with rural residence registration. This erosion of trust primarily stemmed from the lockdowns’ detrimental impacts on economic production, financial security, and the conveniences of daily life.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"53 1","pages":"Pages 96-117"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bernard Clery Nomo Beyala, Jean Pierre Fouda Owoundi
{"title":"The effects of fiscal rules on budget deficit: Does democracy matter?","authors":"Bernard Clery Nomo Beyala, Jean Pierre Fouda Owoundi","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2025.01.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2025.01.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper aims to analyse the extent to which democracy shapes the relationship between fiscal rules and budget deficits. To attain this objective, we estimated different fiscal reaction functions for a sample of 97 countries over the period 1985–2021. Our results show that fiscal rules reduce primary budget deficits. Furthermore, the paper establishes that this effect diminishes with democracy as a marginal increase in fiscal rules strength reduces the primary budget only in weak democracies while in strong democracies they do not, indicating that fiscal rules and democracy are substitutes to attain fiscal discipline. Our results are robust to the exclusion of EU countries members, alternative methods dealing with endogeneity or time-invariant variables and the inclusion of other determinants of primary budget deficit as explanatory variables. This suggests that fiscal rules and democracy are substitutes. However, when dealing with the fiscal framework, we find that fiscal rules and democracy are substitutes only in new democracies and under high indebtedness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"53 1","pages":"Pages 290-315"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Liberalizing reforms do not cause suicide: Causal estimation using matching, 1980–2019","authors":"Tibor Rutar , Minea Rutar","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2025.01.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2025.01.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The impact of market liberalization on the subjective well-being (SWB) of societies has been thoroughly investigated over the past two decades using indexes of economic freedom. However, one crucial related aspect of well-being at the societal level remains unexplored with aggregate measures of liberalization: rates of suicide. The critical literature on liberalization suggests market reforms are expected to boost suicide. To our knowledge, we are the first to explore the issue using the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) measure in a quasi-experimental framework. We do so by identifying 43 countries experiencing large, sustained jumps in economic freedom. We then use matching methods to obtain the average treatment effect in the 10 years following the jump. Our main finding, which is robust to a variety of alternative specifications, including a different estimator (synthetic difference-in-differences), is that we detect virtually no statistically significant positive effect of aggregate liberalization on suicide at the conventional level. Thus, we are unable to corroborate the critics’ prediction about reforms worsening this aspect of psychological well-being. We find evidence that individual reform packages, such as sound money, instead even work protectively.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"53 1","pages":"Pages 272-289"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444925","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The aggregate and distributional effects of immigration restrictions: The 1920s Quota Acts and the Great Black Migration","authors":"Bin Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.12.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.12.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using county-level data and linked individual samples, this study explores the labor market impact of the immigration shock triggered by the US immigration quota system and its causal effect on the Great Black Migration. County-level analysis indicates that immigration restrictions did not affect average manufacturing wages and lowered the average occupational standings of US-born whites and immigrants. Analysis of linked individual samples reveals substantial internal migration and distributional effect caused by the immigration shock: migrants moving to counties more impacted by the shock experienced greater economic gains, while non-movers suffered greater losses. Notably, the negative immigration shock led to a marked increase in the migration of Black southerners to northern counties. Black migrants moving to more affected areas achieved higher occupational standings, increased literacy rates, and greater employment in urban manufacturing jobs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"53 1","pages":"Pages 25-55"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Land reform and illegal adoption of children","authors":"Yanjun Li , Yu Bai , Masaki Nakabayashi","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2025.01.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2025.01.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The paper examines how China’s land reform between 1978 and 1984 altered economic incentives, leading to observable household responses, with involvement in illegal adoption as a key example. The reform transferred land rights from collectives to individual households, granting them control over land-based income and thereby increasing the demand for children as labor and heirs. Leveraging a unique dataset that tracks the inflow of trafficked children and the staggered rollout of the reform, we use triple differences and other identification strategies to demonstrate that land decollectivization significantly increased the illegal adoption of abandoned or abducted children in rural areas. This land usage rights shock was moderated by clan influence, which traditionally valued bloodlines, highlighting the importance of the interaction between culture and institutions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"53 1","pages":"Pages 182-208"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Economic effects of (non-)compliance with constitutions","authors":"Anna Lewczuk, Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.12.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.12.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Constitutional non-compliance, understood as non-congruence between provisions written in countries’ constitutions and the behavior of their governments, has recently become the focus of economic analysis. While other studies concentrate on the reasons behind this phenomenon, we are interested in its economic effects. We argue that non-compliance with constitutions is associated with lower GDP per capita and test our hypothesis empirically for more than 150 countries in the period 1960–2019 using the new Comparative Constitutional Compliance Database and a dynamic panel strategy. Our study confirms adverse economic effects of constitutional violations and this, in particular, in the area of property rights protection and the rule of law. In addition, we indicate groups of countries, where (non-)compliance with constitutions is of particular relevance, as well as identify the mechanisms behind these effects. Our findings contribute to several strands of literature at the nexus of constitutional political economy and development economics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"53 1","pages":"Pages 227-242"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Land reform and health endowments at birth","authors":"Yawen Ding , Xiaobing Wang , Huayu Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.11.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.11.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the impact of China's Household Responsibility System (HRS) reform—a significant land reform that boosted labor productivity in rural areas—on birth outcomes. Leveraging the staggered rollout of the reform across counties and data from the earliest available fertility surveys in China, we provide evidence that prenatal exposure to the reform leads to an average increase in birth weight of about 55 grams. Further analyses suggest that this improvement is most likely driven by better nutrition during gestation, rather than improved access to prenatal health care or an increase in selective births. Moreover, this effect is more pronounced in areas where women have a comparative advantage in agricultural production, underscoring the critical role of women's economic standing in shaping child health outcomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"53 1","pages":"Pages 79-95"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Arthur Blouin , Sayantan Ghosal , Sharun W. Mukand
{"title":"Globalization of capital flows and the (in)disciplining of nations","authors":"Arthur Blouin , Sayantan Ghosal , Sharun W. Mukand","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.12.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.12.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We analyze whether the threat of capital flight “disciplines” governments and improves governance. Our findings show that the globalization of capital flows influences governance through two competing channels. When a government effectively manages domestic governance, it seeks to minimize exposure to sudden capital flight driven by external factors. In contrast, when a government fails to manage domestic governance, the threat of capital flight can impose discipline, improving governance and welfare by placing the country in a “golden straitjacket”—the disciplining effect. However, capital flight may also negatively affect governance quality. As a result, this paper proposes a novel and qualified role for modest capital controls. Finally, we present evidence consistent with the predictions of our theoretical framework.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"53 1","pages":"Pages 209-226"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Economics of majoritarian identity politics","authors":"Rohit Ticku , Raghul S. Venkatesh","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2025.01.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2025.01.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Majoritarian identity politics has become salient in representative democracies. Why do parties engage in identity politics, and what are its consequences? We present a model of electoral competition in which parties capture voter groups based on their identity, and compete over an economic policy platform for the support of non-partisan voters. In addition, the party that caters to majoritarian interests makes a costly investment in polarizing identity. The investment provides subsequent payoffs to voters who have a preference for identity. When voter preferences over policy platforms are idiosyncratic in nature, greater investment in polarizing identity <em>(i)</em> increases <em>both</em> parties’ rents from office; and <em>(ii)</em> marginalizes minority voter interests. Further, the majoritarian party substitutes away from economic policy platforms. This enhances its overall payoffs in equilibrium and decreases that of the opposition party. We discuss the implications in the context of episodes of majoritarian identity politics in India, Turkey, Brazil, and the United States.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"53 1","pages":"Pages 56-78"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143444980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gendered language and gendered violence","authors":"Lewis Davis , Astghik Mavisakalyan , Clas Weber","doi":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.08.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jce.2024.08.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study establishes the influence of sex-based grammatical gender on gendered violence. We demonstrate a statistically significant relationship between speaking a gendered language and the incidence of intimate partner violence in a cross-section of countries. Motivated by this evidence, we conduct an individual-level analysis of the effect of speaking a gendered language on beliefs about the justifiability of intimate partner violence, controlling for a wide variety of individual level socioeconomic characteristics as well as country, religion, language family and ethnicity fixed effects. Speaking a gendered language is associated with the belief that intimate partner violence is justifiable. Our results are consistent with complementarity between the cultural and cognitive effects of language on the attitudes to intimate partner violence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Economics","volume":"52 4","pages":"Pages 755-772"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143136042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}