Boliang Zhu
Biographic Data
| ID | 4371912 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Boliang Zhu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Boliang |
| FAMILY NAME | Zhu |
| SIGNATURE | ZHU B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Pennsylvania State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8775-2736 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 135 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Exiting Russia
As of February 24, 2022, over forty thousand foreign-invested firms operated in Russia, a host state that initiated an interstate war—an exceptional shock in the modern era of economic globalization. Using company registration data, we document that after 18 months of war, 33.3% of foreign-invested firms had changed ownership or become inactive. We conceptualize exit as a politicized transaction in which sellers and buyers face external pressures…
Monopoly rents, institutions, and bribery
Why do some firms pay more bribes than others? We extend the literature by examining the role of one crucial, but overlooked industry characteristic—fixed‐asset intensity—in shaping firms' bribe payments. High fixed‐asset intensity creates natural entry barriers, thereby resulting in market concentration and opportunities for monopoly rent extraction. High rents, in turn, increase the value of government officials' “control rights” and thus their…
Complex dependence in foreign direct investment
We develop a theoretical framework that accounts for complex dependence in foreign direct investment (FDI) relationships. Conventional theories of FDI focus on firm-, industry-, country-, or dyad-level characteristics to account for cross-border capital movements. Yet, today's globalized economy is characterized by the increasing fragmentation and dispersion of production processes, which gives rise to complex dependence among production relation…
Brewing Violence
Two prominent features in current world affairs are the unprecedented level of global economic integration and the growing incidence of intrastate violence. We develop and test a novel argument linking global integration through foreign investment to intrastate armed conflict. The presence of multinational corporations in developing countries can cause market concentration, resulting in high rents. Disputes between governments and would-be challe…
Yes-Man” Firms
We demonstrate material origin of strategic preference expression in authoritarian systems, where firms express dissent against or conform to the government's position based on what they seek to obtain from the government: politically powerful firms are more likely to dissent to negotiate policy concessions while politically weak firms are more likely to conform to the government's position to obtain side payments or to avoid punishment. We test …
Greasing the Wheels of Commerce? Corruption and Foreign Investment
There are considerable scholarly debates regarding the real consequences of corruption. Recent studies have argued that predictable corruption, in which bribers are guaranteed the delivery of government services, is less distortional and more efficiency-enhancing than arbitrary corruption in which officials engage in simple plunder. Yet the empirical evidence is mixed. By leveraging a vignette experiment embedded in an original firm survey in Chi…
Monopoly Rents and Foreign Direct Investment in Fixed Assets
In the past two decades, much of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the primary sector has flowed to unconventional, politically risky destinations. This presents a puzzle for theories that emphasize the ex post immobility of—and hence high potential expropriation risk for—fixed asset investment. Existing theories overlook one critical aspect of fixed assets: large capital requirements and high sunk costs act as entry barriers, resulting in marke…
The face of internet recruitment
Zhubajie/Witmart and other online crowdsourcing platforms have proliferated in China, and researchers have increasingly used them for subject recruitment. One critical question remains, however: what is the generalizability of the findings based on these online samples? In this study, we benchmark the demography of an online sample from Zhubajie to nationally representative samples and replicate commonly asked attitudinal questions in national su…
MNCs, Rents, and Corruption
How does multinational corporation (MNC) activity affect corruption in developing countries? The existing literature tends to suggest that economic integration helps reduce corruption, as it increases market competition and efficiency and promotes the diffusion of good governance. In this article, I argue that such a generalization oversimplifies the consequences of MNC activity in host countries. The entry and presence of MNCs may contribute to …
Fortune or Evil? The Effect of Inward Foreign Direct Investment on Corruption
We analyze how one of the central drivers of globalization, foreign direct investment (FDI), relates to the prevalence of corruption. According to received wisdom, the link between globalization and corruption depends on the presence of proper political institutions and practices. We develop an alternative explanation that looks at the effect of inward FDI on host market dynamics, which in turn affect the opportunities for rent creation. We argue…
The Production of Electoral Intimidation
Fortune or Evil? The Effect of Inward Foreign Direct Investment on Corruption
We analyze how one of the central drivers of globalization, foreign direct investment (FDI), relates to the prevalence of corruption. According to received wisdom, the link between globalization and corruption depends on the presence of proper political institutions and practices. We develop an alternative explanation that looks at the effect of inward FDI on host market dynamics, which in turn affect the opportunities for rent creation. We argue…
MNCs, Rents, and Corruption
How does multinational corporation (MNC) activity affect corruption in developing countries? The existing literature tends to suggest that economic integration helps reduce corruption, as it increases market competition and efficiency and promotes the diffusion of good governance. In this article, I argue that such a generalization oversimplifies the consequences of MNC activity in host countries. The entry and presence of MNCs may contribute to …
The face of internet recruitment
Zhubajie/Witmart and other online crowdsourcing platforms have proliferated in China, and researchers have increasingly used them for subject recruitment. One critical question remains, however: what is the generalizability of the findings based on these online samples? In this study, we benchmark the demography of an online sample from Zhubajie to nationally representative samples and replicate commonly asked attitudinal questions in national su…
Greasing the Wheels of Commerce? Corruption and Foreign Investment
There are considerable scholarly debates regarding the real consequences of corruption. Recent studies have argued that predictable corruption, in which bribers are guaranteed the delivery of government services, is less distortional and more efficiency-enhancing than arbitrary corruption in which officials engage in simple plunder. Yet the empirical evidence is mixed. By leveraging a vignette experiment embedded in an original firm survey in Chi…
The Production of Electoral Intimidation
Complex dependence in foreign direct investment
We develop a theoretical framework that accounts for complex dependence in foreign direct investment (FDI) relationships. Conventional theories of FDI focus on firm-, industry-, country-, or dyad-level characteristics to account for cross-border capital movements. Yet, today's globalized economy is characterized by the increasing fragmentation and dispersion of production processes, which gives rise to complex dependence among production relation…
Brewing Violence
Two prominent features in current world affairs are the unprecedented level of global economic integration and the growing incidence of intrastate violence. We develop and test a novel argument linking global integration through foreign investment to intrastate armed conflict. The presence of multinational corporations in developing countries can cause market concentration, resulting in high rents. Disputes between governments and would-be challe…
Yes-Man” Firms
We demonstrate material origin of strategic preference expression in authoritarian systems, where firms express dissent against or conform to the government's position based on what they seek to obtain from the government: politically powerful firms are more likely to dissent to negotiate policy concessions while politically weak firms are more likely to conform to the government's position to obtain side payments or to avoid punishment. We test …
The Production of Electoral Intimidation
Fortune or Evil? The Effect of Inward Foreign Direct Investment on Corruption
We analyze how one of the central drivers of globalization, foreign direct investment (FDI), relates to the prevalence of corruption. According to received wisdom, the link between globalization and corruption depends on the presence of proper political institutions and practices. We develop an alternative explanation that looks at the effect of inward FDI on host market dynamics, which in turn affect the opportunities for rent creation. We argue…
MNCs, Rents, and Corruption
How does multinational corporation (MNC) activity affect corruption in developing countries? The existing literature tends to suggest that economic integration helps reduce corruption, as it increases market competition and efficiency and promotes the diffusion of good governance. In this article, I argue that such a generalization oversimplifies the consequences of MNC activity in host countries. The entry and presence of MNCs may contribute to …
Monopoly Rents and Foreign Direct Investment in Fixed Assets
In the past two decades, much of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the primary sector has flowed to unconventional, politically risky destinations. This presents a puzzle for theories that emphasize the ex post immobility of—and hence high potential expropriation risk for—fixed asset investment. Existing theories overlook one critical aspect of fixed assets: large capital requirements and high sunk costs act as entry barriers, resulting in marke…
The face of internet recruitment
Zhubajie/Witmart and other online crowdsourcing platforms have proliferated in China, and researchers have increasingly used them for subject recruitment. One critical question remains, however: what is the generalizability of the findings based on these online samples? In this study, we benchmark the demography of an online sample from Zhubajie to nationally representative samples and replicate commonly asked attitudinal questions in national su…
Greasing the Wheels of Commerce? Corruption and Foreign Investment
There are considerable scholarly debates regarding the real consequences of corruption. Recent studies have argued that predictable corruption, in which bribers are guaranteed the delivery of government services, is less distortional and more efficiency-enhancing than arbitrary corruption in which officials engage in simple plunder. Yet the empirical evidence is mixed. By leveraging a vignette experiment embedded in an original firm survey in Chi…
Monopoly rents, institutions, and bribery
Why do some firms pay more bribes than others? We extend the literature by examining the role of one crucial, but overlooked industry characteristic—fixed‐asset intensity—in shaping firms' bribe payments. High fixed‐asset intensity creates natural entry barriers, thereby resulting in market concentration and opportunities for monopoly rent extraction. High rents, in turn, increase the value of government officials' “control rights” and thus their…
Complex dependence in foreign direct investment
We develop a theoretical framework that accounts for complex dependence in foreign direct investment (FDI) relationships. Conventional theories of FDI focus on firm-, industry-, country-, or dyad-level characteristics to account for cross-border capital movements. Yet, today's globalized economy is characterized by the increasing fragmentation and dispersion of production processes, which gives rise to complex dependence among production relation…
Brewing Violence
Two prominent features in current world affairs are the unprecedented level of global economic integration and the growing incidence of intrastate violence. We develop and test a novel argument linking global integration through foreign investment to intrastate armed conflict. The presence of multinational corporations in developing countries can cause market concentration, resulting in high rents. Disputes between governments and would-be challe…
Yes-Man” Firms
We demonstrate material origin of strategic preference expression in authoritarian systems, where firms express dissent against or conform to the government's position based on what they seek to obtain from the government: politically powerful firms are more likely to dissent to negotiate policy concessions while politically weak firms are more likely to conform to the government's position to obtain side payments or to avoid punishment. We test …
Exiting Russia
As of February 24, 2022, over forty thousand foreign-invested firms operated in Russia, a host state that initiated an interstate war—an exceptional shock in the modern era of economic globalization. Using company registration data, we document that after 18 months of war, 33.3% of foreign-invested firms had changed ownership or become inactive. We conceptualize exit as a politicized transaction in which sellers and buyers face external pressures…
Economics (9 works) · Market economy (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Foreign direct investment (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Corruption and Economic Development (5 works) · Economic rent (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Microeconomics (5 works) · Politics (5 works)