Lixin Colin Xu

Dr. Xu is a Professor of Economics at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Before joining CKGSB, Dr. Xu was a lead economist of the Research Group of the World Bank, and the Mulan visiting professor of NSD of Peking University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, and his M.A. and B.A. from Peking University.

An authority on firms in China and around the world, Dr. Xu has done extensive research on China’s transition, the role of the business environment in firm performance, and how history shapes current economic performance. His papers are among the most well-cited among Chinese economists. He has many papers listed in the reading materials of top universities around the world. His research has been featured in The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Strait Times, Sina Finance and Economics, and Barrons. In his spare time, he likes to read on peak performance, creativity, health, personal fulfillment, and history; he also loves to play tennis.

Employment

• 2022-present: Professor of Economics, CKGSB.
• 2018-2021: Mulan Distinguished Visiting Professor, National School of Development, Peking University. Part-time visitor.
• 2010-present: Lead Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank.
• 2002-2010: Senior Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank.
• 2000-2002: Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank.
• 1999-2000: Economist, East Asian Region; the Young Professional Program, World Bank.
• 1996-1998: Consultant, Research Dept., World Bank.

Education

• Ph.D., Economics, University of Chicago, 1996.
• B.A., M.A., Economics, Peking University, 1986, 1989.

Achievements

Throughout his academic career, Dr. Xu has published more than 60 journal articles in academic journals including American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Growth, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Public Economics, and Review of Economics and Statistics. He has served as a member of Editorial Boards for multiple academic journals and platforms such as China Economic Review, Annals of Economics and Finance, VoxChina, Frontiers of Economics in China.

Publications

1. Galiani, S., S. Knack, L.C. Xu, B. Zou. 2017. “The effect of aid on growth: Evidence from a quasi experiment.” Journal of Economic Growth 22(1), 1-33. Lead article. Featured in The Economist, August 16, 2014; listed in Easterly’s course on economic development in NYU, Fall, 2015, 2021; (Nobel prize winner) Kremer’s course on development at Harvard (2014); MIT’s Hidalgo’s course on Quantitative Research Method (2020), Univ. of Michigan’s “Applied method for development” (Prof. Montero, 2019); also in syllabus in Graduate Institute Geneva, Science Po. Reviewed in Nancy Qian’s survey on foreign aid in Annual Review of Economics.
2. Huang, Zhangkai, Lixing Li, Guangrong Ma, L. Colin Xu. 2017. “Hayek, Local Information, and Commanding Heights: Decentralizing State-Owned Enterprises.” American Economic Review 107(8), 2455-2478. Media mentions in Financial Times (Chinese version).
3. Cull, Robert, L. Colin Xu, Xi Yang, Li-An Zhou, and Tian Zhu. 2017. “Government facilitation and firm efficiency.” Journal of Corporate Finance 42, 460-480.
4. Huang, Fali, Ginger Jin, L. Colin Xu. 2017. “Love, Money, and Parental Goods: Does Parent Matchmaking Matter?” Journal of Comparative Economics 45(2), 224-245. Blogged by Wall Street Journal (2/12/2015); by Marginal Revolution, 2016/9/7. Featured in NBER website front page, 9/28/2016.
5. Zhang, Jing, L. Colin Xu. 2016. “Water Quality and Education in a Brawn-Based Economy: The Rural Drinking Water Program in China,” Journal of Development Economics 122, 1-15.
6. Cull, Robert, Wei Li, Bo Sun, Lixin Colin Xu. 2015. “Banks, the Government, and Financial Constraint: Evidence from a Large Sample of Chinese Firms,” Journal of Corporate Finance 32(C), 271-294.
   
7. Harrison, Ann, Justin Y. Lin, Lixin Colin Xu. 2014. “Explaining Africa’s (Dis)advantage”, World Development 63, 59-77. November. *Listed in Chris Blattman’s syllabus on development (Columbia University, 2013).
8. Huang, Fali, Ginger Z. Jin, Lixin Colin Xu. 2012. “Love and Money by Parental Matchmaking: Evidence from Urban Couples in China.” American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), 102(3), 555-560. Included in a syllabus in UCSD (Prof. Ruixue Jia, “Topics of China’s Development”).
9. Xu, Lixin Colin. 2011. “The Effects of Business Environments on Development: A Survey of New Firm-Level Evidence,” World Bank Research Observer 26 (2), 310-340. A key survey on the investment climate work of the World Bank.
10. Cai, Hongbin, Hanming Fang, Lixin Colin Xu. 2011. “Eat, Drink, Firms, Government: An Investigation of Corruption from Entertainment and Travel Costs of Chinese Firms.” Journal of Law and Economics 54, 55-78, February. The most citation paper in JLE from 2011 forward. The ETC (eating, entertainment and travelling costs/sales) measure has become a standard measure of corruption in China because of this paper.
11. Cull, Robert, Lixin Colin Xu, Tian Zhu. 2009. “Formal Finance and Trade Credit During China’s Transition,” Journal of Financial Intermediation 18(2), April, pp. 173-192.
12. Fan, Joseph, Randall Morck, Lixin Colin Xu, Bernard Yeung. 2009. “Institutions and Foreign Direct Investment: China vs. the Rest of the World”, World Development 37 (4), pp. 852-865. In a syllabus of Wesleyan Univ. (Prof. Hornstein, 2011) on “Multinational Enterprise.”
13. Clarke, George, Lixin Colin Xu, Heng-Fu Zou. 2006. “Finance and Income Inequality: What do the data tell us?” Southern Economic Journal 72, 578-596. Perhaps the first paper linking finance and inequality empirically. The third- most cited paper (by citation per year) in SEJ since its inception in 1938, cited more than 1,000 times in Google Scholar.
14. Cull, Robert, Lixin Colin Xu. 2005. “Institutions, Ownership, and Finance: The Determinants of Investment among Chinese Firms,” Journal of Financial Economics 77, 117-146. Reprinted in Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries (forthcoming). Elgar Reference Collection, International Library of Entrepreneurship, Eds by T. Beck. Cited more than 1,000 times in Google Scholar.
15. Li, Wei, Lixin Colin Xu 2004. “The Impact of Privatization and Competition in the Telecommunications Sector around the World?” Journal of Law and Economics XLVII (2), 395-430. A key reference that was cited extensively by a textbook on privatization (Megginson, 2005). In syllabus of Stanford Law School, on “Regulated Industries” (2008).
16. Clarke, George, Lixin Colin Xu. 2004. “Privatization, Competition, and Corruption: How Characteristics of Bribe Takers and Payers Affect Bribe Payments to Utilities,” Journal of Public Economics 88 (9-10), 2067-97. In Toulouse’s course syllabus, “Governance, Industrial Organization and Development” (prof. Auriol); cited in International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption (ed. Rose-Ackerman and Soreide, 2011).
17. Mengistae, Taye, Lixin Colin Xu. 2004. “Agency Theory and Executive Compensation: The Case of Chinese State-Owned Enterprises,” Journal of Labor Economics, 22(3), 615-38.
18. Cull, Robert, and Lixin Colin Xu. 2003. “Who Gets Credit? The Behavior of Bureaucrats and State Banks in Allocating Credit to Chinese SOEs,” Journal of Development Economics 71, 533-559. In UC Berkeley’s course on Political Economy of China (Prof. Lorentzen, 2008); U. Ottawa’s course on China’s Economy (Prof. Yongjing Zhang, 2014).
19. Hotz, V. Joseph, Lixin Colin Xu, Avner Ahituv, Marta Tienda. 2002. “Are There Returns to the Wages of Young Men from Working While in School?” Review of Economics and Statistics 84(2), p. 221-36.
20. Li, Wei, Lixin Colin Xu. 2002. “The Political Economy of Telecom Privatization and Competition” Journal of Comparative Economics, 30(3), 439-62. Appeared in a syllabus on International Business at U Michigan (Jan Svejnar, 2003), in a syllabus on Advanced Topics in Development Economics at UIUC (Prof. Esfahani, 2005).
21. Shirley, Mary, Lixin Colin Xu. 2001. “The Empirical Effects of Performance Contracts,” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 17(1), 168-200. Cited in a JEL survey by Djankov and Murrell (2002) on Enterprise Restructuring in Transition.
    
22. Cull, Robert, Lixin Colin Xu. 2000. “Bureaucrats, State Banks, and the Efficiency of Credit Allocation: The Experience of Chinese State-Owned Enterprises,” Journal of Comparative Economics 28, 1-31. Lead article. In UC Berkeley’s course on Political Economy of China (Prof. Lorentzen, 2008). Cited in Kornai, Maskin and Roland (2003) in JEL survey on “Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint.”
23. Li, Hongyi, Lixin Colin Xu, Heng-Fu Zou. 2000. “Corruption, Income Distribution, and Growth,” Economics and Politics, 12(2), 155-82. One of the journal’s top cited papers. Also listed in a syllabus of Columbia University, Harvard (2017, Prof. Rios, Corruption and Inequality), Georgetown University (Prof. Olofsgard, Political Economy of Growth, Redistribution and Poverty).
24. Shirley, Mary, Lixin Colin Xu. 1998. “Information, Incentive, and Commitment,” Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 14(2), 358-78. Reprinted in Contracts in the New Institutional Economics (2004): 357-77. Elgar Reference Collection, International Library of the New Institutional Economics, vol. 3. Cheltenham, U.K. and Northamption, Mass.: Elgar, 2004. Also listed in MIT’s course syllabus on Planning in Transition Economy for Growth and Equity.