Yongwei Nian

Field: Economics

Research Interests: Development Economics, Political Economy

(Expected) Graduation: June 2024

 

References

• Francesco
  Decarolis francesco.decarolis@unibocconi.it
• Stefano
  Fiorin stefano.fiorin@unibocconi.it
• Guido
  Tabellini guido.tabellini@unibocconi.it

Contact



Email: yongwei.nian@phd.unibocconi.it

Phone: (+39) 348 6124341

JOB MARKET PAPER

Curbing Bureaucratic Information Manipulation

Bureaucrats are often incentivized to manipulate information, which may
have real consequences. Leveraging China's 2009 reform punishing economic data
manipulation and counties' quasi-random reform exposure, I provide rich causal
evidence showing that the reform led to: (1) a decrease in GDP growth
manipulation amounting to 5% of reported GDP growth, driven by a reputational
discipline effect; (2) an increase in local officials' development effort
manifested in both policy changes and downstream impacts, consistent with an
effort reallocation effect. These results thus highlight the far-reaching costs
of such manipulation and the welfare implications of curbing it.

PUBLICATIONS

Nian, Y. (2023). Incentives, penalties, and rural air pollution: Evidence from satellite data. Journal of Development Economics, 161, 103049.

Nian, Y., & Wang, C. (2023). Go with the Politician. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 15(2), 467-496.

WORKING PAPERS

Virtuous Leaders and Government Corruption, with C. Shen and Z. Zhou

Reciprocity and State Capacity, with Y. Luo and M. Zhang