Essays on foreign acquisition, multiproduct firms and international trade: evidence from China

Based upon the context of China getting integrated into the global economy, this thesis explores three distinct research questions concerning the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on firms' export and import profiles as well as the relationship between working capital management and export participation. Chapter One introduces the institutional background and the outline for the whole thesis. We describe the distinctive features of China's changing regulatory environment and demonstrate how relevant policies have shaped the patterns of FDI in China. Moreover, we briefly introduce the evolution of FDI-related policies in the three key phases of China's reform and opening up and then evaluate how changes in FDI policy shape the current status of foreign investment. Finally, we present an overview of our three main chapters. Chapter Two examines whether a causal relationship exists between foreign ownership and firms' export profiles. We use the matched firm transaction data to track down changes in firm ownership and export profiles and combine the propensity score matching with the difference-in-differences technique to identify a causal relationship. Our results show that foreign ownership causes firms to become ``meaner and leaner". After foreign acquisition, both the number of products and the number of export destination countries have decreased. In addition, the acquired firms tend to concentrate sales on their top-sold products and top-exported destinations. Chapter Three investigates whether a casual link exists between foreign acquisition and firms' import profiles. We use the same databases as in Chapter Two, with the focus on importers only, to measure changes in firm ownership structure and import profiles. We apply the augmented inverse probability weighting method to construct a pseudo-randomised sample and then use the difference-in-differences method to eliminate the time invariant unobservables. We also compare the effects of minority acquisitions with that of majority acquisitions on firm's import profiles. Overall, the results demonstrate a causal relationship between foreign acquisition and firms' import profiles. In addition, we find that different levels of foreign ownership have heterogeneous effects with minority acquired firms showing a ``meaner and leaner" import profile restructuring while majority acquired firms showing an expansion import profile restructuring. In Chapter Four, we explore the relationship between firm-level working capital management and firms' export participation. We particularly look at the role of cash conversion cycle (CCC) in firms' export behaviours. With data from the \textit{Annual Survey of Industrial Firms (ASIF)}, we test whether a causal relationship exists between working capital management and the probability for a firm to become an exporter using the binary choice model with fixed effects (FE Logit model). We then use the Tobit model to estimate the effects of CCC on firm's export intensity. In order to estimate CCC's effects on other firm performance, we apply firm fixed effects to eliminate the time invariant unobservables. Although there is no significant finding showing a casual link between working capital management and the probability of firms' becoming exporters, the results suggest a positive relationship between better working capital management and the increase in firms' export shares. In addition, a shorter CCC can lead to the increase in firms' total and domestic sales. We also find a positive relationship between working capital management and firm performance in terms of return on total assets, income margin and asset turnover. Chapter Five is a summary of the research findings and points out future research directions

Existence of nontrivial solutions to a fourth-order Kirchhoff type elliptic equation with critical exponent

In this paper, a critical fourth-order Kirchhoff type elliptic equation with a subcritical perturbation is studied. The main feature of this problem is that it involves both a nonlocal coefficient and a critical term, which bring essential difficulty for the proof of the existence of weak solutions. When the dimension of the space is smaller than or equals to $7$, the existence of weak solution is obtained by combining the Mountain Pass Lemma with some delicate estimate on the Talenti's functions. When the dimension of the space is larger than or equals to $8$, the above argument no longer works. By introducing an appropriate truncation on the nonlocal coefficient, it is shown that the problem admits a nontrivial solution under appropriate conditions on the parameter

The Dilemma and Practice Paths of Multi-entity Participation in the Rural Living Environment—A Case Study of District Y in Chongqing

The remediation of the rural living environment is not only an important aspect of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization but also directly influences the villagers’ sense of happiness and attainment. This paper, taking District Y in Chongqing as an example, explores the practice paths of multi-entity coordinated governance in the rural living environment. The paper affirms the leading role of the government, participation responsibilities of the market, social organizations, and villagers, thereby constructing a multi-entity coordinated governance mechanism to effectively address the prominent problems currently faced

Boris Johnson in hospital: a Chinese gaze at Western democracies in the COVID-19 pandemic

In this article, we examine Chinese assessments of Western democratic systems in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research is based on an up-to-date case study of how Chinese Internet users discussed the UK Prime Minister – Boris Johnson’s infection with COVID-19 in late March and early April 2020. The research collected original data from the Chinese community question-answering (CQA) site – Zhihu. Using a mixed-method approach, consisting of content analysis (CA) and thematic analysis (TA), we show how Zhihu users evaluate the incident (1) as a way to express their sentiments towards Boris Johnson, (2) as a case to assess British politics and (3) as a vehicle for rationalizing their views on Western democratic systems in relation to China’s domestic politics. The research findings shed new light on a Chinese gaze at Western democratic systems in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis

Constraint Mechanism of Environmental Regulation on Carbon Emission of Heavy Industry in Chengdu-Chongqing Region of China

Regional differences and development heterogeneity lead to an unbalanced distribution of heavy industry in Chengdu-Chongqing region of China. Under the background of low-carbon development, clarifying the constraint mechanism of environmental regulations on carbon emissions of heavy industry becomes more important to solve prominent problems of resources and the environment. In this work, literature analysis, comparative analysis and statistical induction are carried out to illustrate a constraint mechanism of environmental regulation on carbon emission. Based on literature reports and government yearbook data, the impacts of environmental regulations on carbon emissions of heavy industry in Chengdu-Chongqing region are studied. Analysis and demonstration are carried out from four dimensions: corporate identity, technological progress, policy constraints, and government supervision. The predicament of environmental regulation affecting heavy industry carbon emission reduction is expounded and puts forward reasonable policy suggestions. The research results can enrich the theory of environmental regulation, and provide policy suggestions for optimizing the green transformation of heavy industry