WORK 01
Agricultural Origin of Property Rights and Financial Development
Abstract
Property rights institution is critical in the process of financial development. We argue that the formation of property rights institutions can be traced to Neolithic Transformation, when the hunter-gatherers became the first farmers, and the agricultural endowment positively influences financial activities today. To verify this hypothesis, we exploit several worldwide geo-referenced datasets. Our results show that early Neolithic transformation predicts better financial development and property rights institutions of global countries, easier access to finance among firms and households. The positive effects hold when we use regional high-resolution measures, and when we instrument Neolithic timing using a set of biogeography features. Our examination on firm sample shows that early transition is positively associated with both aspects of property rights institutions: risk of government expropriation and contract enforcement. The effects of early transition on access to finance and investment are stronger on small firms that are typically more financially constrained and more vulnerable to expropriation. Our results based on ethnicity-level records provide evidence on how Neolithic transformation influenced formation of property rights norms in pre-industrial period, which help to explain the persistence of development.
WORK 02
Climate Legacy of Corporate Resilience to Crises
Abstract
Property rights institution is critical in the process of financial development. We argue that The persistence of climate-driven cooperation plays an important role for firms’ resilience to economic downturns. To cope with climate uncertainty, large-scale cooperation and exchange across communities emerged and catalyzed the accumulation of social capital. We hypothesize that countries and ethnicities with ancestors experienced more volatile temperature share high level of trust today. The weather-induced social capital reduces financial obstacles for firms and enhances corporate resilience to crises through more accessible finances. To examine the hypothesis, we combine large-scale data sets of firms and households with high-resolution weather data. Results show that pre-industrial weather uncertainty endowed firms with less financial obstacle, especially in industries that dependent on external finance, and in areas with more incentives or advantages to cooperate historically to insure against weather risks. Long-run weather risks have positive impacts on firms’ survival and recovery from crises of systemic banking crises and COVID-19 because that greater level of social capital can mitigate firms’ financial constraints by enabling more lending from banks and supply chains. We verify the accumulation of social capital as an influencing channel by showing the links between temperature volatility and 1) cooperation in 1500 CE, 2) social trust nowadays.
WORK 03
Signalling Effects of Doing Good in ICO Markets
Abstract
The Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) markets have experienced a dramatic development and turmoil worldwide. Investors and regulators are greatly concerned about ICO’s under-regulated nature. This paper studies signalling effects of CSR among global ICOs by asking if CSR narratives reflect values that highlight the interests of broad stakeholders, reduce information asymmetry, and improve the outcome of fund raising. We construct a sample of ICOs across 43 countries from 2014 to 2018, and define socially responsible ICOs as those serving education, environment, health, and poverty as described in their whitepapers. We find that ICOs from countries with a lower individualism and high benevolence culture are more likely have socially responsible goals. These projects tend to have better disclosure in whitepapers and receive more attention in social media. Socially responsible ICOs are as competitive as ordinary ICOs in terms of fundraising outcomes. Our analyses that are motivated by signalling theory could advice on ICOs’ path to build legitimacy and reputation, meanwhile inform investors of strategy to verify signals in the risky private equity markets. A major implication is that CSR signals ICO teams’ good ethics, thus investors may find helpful to make screening based on CSR related contents included in a whitepaper.
WORK 04
3G Coverage and Gender Equality
Abstract
Can digital information and communication technology improve gender equality by disseminating news, thoughts, experience on gender issues? We combine georeferenced data sets of 3G signal coverage of mobile phone in 33 African countries with data on individuals’ opinions on women rights to examine the role of ICT on women’s social status. We find that both males and females tend to agree that women should be entitled with equal rights in grid cells with higher 3G coverage within the same country, and the effects only show among individuals who use mobile phone and among countries with low freedom of traditional media (i.e., newspapers, television, radio). Digital ICT exhibits larger influence on thoughts supporting gender equality than traditional media, and encourages women’s participation in politics and business activities. We show that with higher 3G coverage, women are more likely to aware gender issues, more care about public affairs, contact government officials, own business, and work as top managers in firms. This study highlights the great importance of access to information on tackling deeply rooted gender inequality.
WORK 05
Gender Gap in Doing Remote Work: Evidence from SMEs in the Covid-19 Pandemic
Abstract
This paper examines the operation of female-dominated firms around the COVID-19 pandemic and assesses the effectiveness of mitigation policies. By using the survey data of 6641 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 34 countries, we document that the firms with more than 50% women in total production workers are 2.4% more likely to be permanently closed than others and suffer 3.02% larger decrease in sales. Such gender gap in firm disruptions is attributed to the inability of female-dominated firms to adopt remote work and reduce operation hours, especially in female concentrated sectors such as Hospitality which are very unlikely likely to operate remotely. The observed gender difference in doing remote work is tight to an agricultural tradition that important to gender role today. Finally, we show that the government policies, which are designed to provide financial support to female-dominated firms, help to moderate gender gap in firms’ shortage of liquidity. The policies are more effective in the presence of women leadership in COVID-19 task forces.
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