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The large regional variation in minimum wage levels during the period 2002–8 in China implies that Chinese manufacturing firms experienced competitive shocks as a function of firm location and their low-wage employment share. We find that minimum wage hikes accelerate the input substitution from labour to capital, reduce employment growth and accelerate total factor productivity growth—particularly among the less productive firms under private Chinese or foreign ownership, but not among state-owned enterprises. The heterogeneous firm response to labour cost shocks can be explained by differences in management practices and suggests that management quality and competitive pressure are complementary.

Vaccination is the primary defense against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, especially among older adults and those with chronic conditions. Using a nationally representative sample of 12,900 participants from the fifth wave (2021–2022) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we examined the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination status and the determinants of vaccination hesitancy in Chinese adults aged 52 and older. By July/August 2022, 92.3% of the Chinese population aged 60 years and older had received at least one COVID-19 vaccination, 88.6% had completed the primary series and 72.4% had received a booster. Those aged 80 years and older had lower vaccination rates, with 71.9% and 46.7% completing the primary series and booster shots, respectively. These statistics represent the situation before China ended the Zero-COVID policy in November 2022 because vaccination stagnated between July/August and November 2022. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that belonging to the oldest age groups (individuals aged 70 years and older and especially those aged 80 years and older) as well as being female and unmarried, residing in urban areas, being functionally dependent and having chronic conditions meant that these individuals were less likely to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Our regression analysis results were corroborated by self-reported reasons for nonvaccination. Vaccination hesitancy probably contributed to excessive mortality among vulnerable populations after China ceased its Zero-COVID policy. Our study provides important lessons on how to balance containment efforts with vaccination and treatment measures, as well as highlighting the need to clarify the side effects and contraindications of vaccines early on. Analysis of a longitudinal cohort revealed that only 72% of Chinese adults aged 60 years and older received a booster coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination by July 2022, with contraindications, advanced age and living with chronic conditions being the main determinants of vaccine hesitancy in this population.

This paper documents the patterns and correlates of retirement in China using a nationally representative survey, the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. After documenting stark differences in retirement ages between urban and rural residents, the paper shows that China's urban residents retire earlier than workers in many Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and that rural residents continue to work until advanced ages. Differences in access to generous pensions and economic resources explain much of the urban–rural difference in retirement rates. The paper suggests that reducing disincentives created by China's Urban Employee Pension system, improving health status, providing childcare and elder care support may all facilitate longer working lives. Given spouse preferences for joint retirement, creating incentives for women to retire later may facilitate longer working lives for both men and women.

Around the world, populations are ageing at a faster pace than in the past and this demographic transition will have impacts on all aspects of societies. In May 2020, the UN General Assembly declared 2021–2030 the Decade of Healthy Ageing, highlighting the importance for policymakers across the world to focus policy on improving the lives of older people, both today and in the future. While rapid population ageing poses challenges, China’s rapid economic growth over the last forty years has created space for policy to assist older persons and families in their efforts to improve health and well-being at older ages. As China is home to 1/5 of the world’s older people, China is often held up as an example for other middle-income countries. This Commission Report aims to help readers to understand the process of healthy ageing in China as a means of drawing lessons from the China experience. In addition, with the purpose of informing the ongoing policy dialogue within China, the Commission Report highlights the policy challenges on the horizon and draws lessons from international experience.

In Chapter 1, I develop a New Keynesian model with inventories and convex costs of labor adjustment. For each of the three empirically observed responses to monetary policy shocks: (1) the slow adjustment of inventories compared to changes in sales; (2) the delayed and gradual response of inflation; and (3) the transitory movement in the aggregate price level in the same direction as the interest rate, also known as the \"price puzzle,\" my model has important implications. First, adjustment costs counteract the financing-cost effect of interest rate changes on inventory holdings, but are still inadequate for the calibrated model to generate countercyclical inventory-to-sales ratios. I find that this financing-cost effect needs to be reduced by 80 percent for the model to predict inventory behavior correctly. Second, firm-specific adjustment costs in production increase the degree of real rigidity for price adjustment, so the response of inflation in the presence of high aggregate marginal costs is still slow-moving and persistent. Finally, the motive of cost smoothing for holding inventories implies that marginal costs should move in the opposite direction as the interest rate, which casts doubt on the use of the cost channel to explain the \"price puzzle.\" In Chapter 2, I propose a theory of the information channel between home consumption bias and home equity bias. Consumption-revealed information is acquired spontaneously in an investor's daily life and thus is naturally immobile. For this reason, consumption experience more concentrated in home-produced goods endows domestic residents with information advantage in home equities. This channel also helps to explain many empirical facts such as the 90\\% correlation between import shares and foreign equity shares. In Chapter 3, I use individual portfolio data from a China's brokerage firm to test the predictions of Chapter 2. I find that the fraction of local stocks in the brokerage portfolio is 143 percent higher than the fraction of local stocks in the market portfolio. One third of this portfolio locality is explained by business exposure of listed firms, measured by their sales per capita in the brokerage city. The result shows that a rise in sales per capita by \\$2.75 leads to a 32 percent increase in the portfolio share relative to the mean. To examine whether business exposure helps investors to gain information other than familiarity, several indicators of business exposure in nonlocal areas are included in a regression. The result suggests that if a nonlocal firm's business is concentrated in other areas, local investors tend to shy away from its stock. However, some coefficients are not statistically significant, so we still cannot reach the conclusion that a firm's sales business has significant amount of information content on stock returns.

The extent of income inequality between urban & rural regions in the contemporary People's Republic of China is investigated; specific attention is dedicated to determining whether migration effects upon labor markets & income inequality are proportional. Existing studies of rural-urban income differences are analyzed, illustrating the growth of income differences between the nation's coastal & inland regions since the mid-1980s. Data collected during the Chinese population census of 1990 & 2000 is then scrutinized. Several findings are presented: between 1985 & 2000, income inequality between urban & rural regions increased by almost 30%; migration from rural to urban provinces doubled over the 15-year interval; & the disparity between income & migration measures significantly increased over the period. Two explanations for the failure of migration trends to reduce income differences in the People's Republic of China are offered, eg, economic & agricultural productivity growth were disproportionately higher than migration output from the nation's rural regions. 8 Tables, 1 Appendix, 25 References. J. W. Parker

This paper documents the patterns and correlates of retirement in China using a nationally representative survey, the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). After documenting stark differences in retirement ages between urban and rural residents, the paper shows that China's urban residents retire earlier than workers in many OECD countries and that rural residents continue to work until advanced ages. Differences in access to generous pensions and economic resources explain much of the urban-rural difference in retirement rates. The paper suggests that reducing disincentives created by China's Urban Employee Pension system, improving health status, providing childcare and elder care support may all facilitate longer working lives. Given spouse preferences for joint retirement, creating incentives for women to retire later may facilitate longer working lives for both men and women.