Institutional Distance and CrossNational Income Gaps

ihis paper examines the root causes of current cross-national institutional difference from the perspective of national hetereogeneity and provides detailed explanations on the justification and effectiveness of using cross-national genetic distance as the instrumental variable （IV） of institutional difference. We combined 10,585 samples by pairing 146 countries and regions, created a cross-national institutional distance variable composed of 14 indicators from the World Bank and the Heritage Foundation in three aspects including differences of political system, economic system and institutional implementation attributes, and conducted a cross-section IV estimation for the long-term effect of institutional differences on cross-national income gaps using data between 1996 and 2010. Empirical results indicate that institutional difference has a long-term significant positive effect on cross-national income gaps and such an effect has a tendency to increase during sample period. With factors like human capital, geographical factor, language and religion under control, we still arrived at similar conclusions. The empirical results are demonstrated to be robust using different genetic distance measurement indicators and estimation methods.

Will Institutional Distance Affect Multinational Firms' CSR Performance in a Host Country?

Taking multinational firms operating in China as objects of research,this paper has discovered through empirical study that economic institutional distance and cultural institutional distance have negative effects on the corporate social responsibility(CSR) performance of multinational firms in a host country;when the legal system of home country is far better than that of host country,legal institutional distance has a positive effect on the CSR performance of multinational firms in the host country;entry mode has negative adjustment effect on the relationship of legal institutional distance and cultural institutional distance with the CSR performance of multinational firms in a host country;business experience of multinational firms in a host country has a negative adjustment effect on the relationship between legal institutional distance and their CSR performance in the host country.

The Comparison of Ten Biggest Distance Education Institutions in the World

The 1995 International Council of Distance Education（ICDE）In Blrmingham，Britain selected ten（llstance education mstltutlons with an enrollment of over 100，000Inthe world． Theyrespectively belong to China，阶ance，India，Indonesia，

Officials'Foreign Experience and Firms'Exports:Evidence from China

This study examines how the foreign experience of local oficials affects firms'exports in China.Using a matched sample from 2000 to 2012,we found that the foreign experience of municipal Party secretaries had a significant impact on the promotion of firms'exports,especially for private firms.This positive impact was more pronounced when officials went abroad at a younger age,stayed abroad for a longer period,returned to China for a longer time,and had greater promotion incentives.We found that officials'foreign experience helped to mitigate the negative impact of institutional distance and provided firms with better access to export subsidies,both of which could promote exporting.There was also a complementary effect when officials and executives both had foreign experience.Overall,our study provides some insights into the economic outcomes of officials'foreign experience and sheds light on the export performance of Chinese firms.