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An increasing amount of research has indicated that the effectiveness of growth mindset (GM) intervention is sensitive to population characteristics. However, few studies have investigated whether GM interventions can be leveraged to promote academic performance among non-westerners such as Chinese students. Attuning to the Chinese background, we developed an extended GM intervention by incorporating both the malleability of intelligence and that of emotion. We examined the effect of the intervention in 11 schools across 48 classes in China and found that the intervention significantly improved students' maths achievement with intrinsic motivation playing a partial mediating role. Different from the mechanism in the Western, the implicit theories of emotion, rather than implicit theories of intelligence, are more likely to play a role in the effects of the GM intervention on intrinsic motivation and maths achievement. Future studies are required for directly examining the role of implicit theories of emotion.

After‐school tutoring has risen globally despite limited evidence of effectiveness. We implement a randomized after‐school tutoring program in rural China where many children are left‐behind by parents in care of grandparents. Compared to tutees cared for by parents, those in care of grandparents reported much smaller home‐tutoring reductions but larger test‐score gains. We interpret our data analysis with a model with tutoring efficacy and substitution between private and public inputs both differing by family background: Increased public tutoring generates larger test‐score gains for children who experience greater tutoring efficacy and lesser substitution with household inputs, consistent with our estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relative importance of soft skills versus hard skills across occupations and its impact on the observed wage gap between Blacks and Whites in the United States. It posits that the Black/White pay gap may vary across occupations that require the use of different types of skills. We classify occupations into hard-skill intensive versus soft-skill intensive jobs using the skill content measures of different occupations from the Occupational Information Network (0*Net). We then use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and Current Population Survey (CPS) to investigate the impact of job skill type on the wage gap. Consistent with our theoretical predictions, we show that this wage gap in white-collar jobs is smaller for hard-skills jobs than it is for soft-skills jobs. Moreover, we demonstrate that, in response to variations in the wage gap across different occupations, Blacks are more likely to self-select themselves into hard-skills jobs, ceteris paribus. This shows not only that discrimination against Blacks varies across occupations, but also that such discrimination induces the self-selection of Blacks into certain occupations. Moreover, this finding highlights the role played by co-worker/customer discrimination in explaining the racial wage gap in the U.S. labor market. (JEL J15, J31), I. INTRODUCTION There is an increasing awareness of the importance of soft skills, which is also referred to as noncognitive skills or people skills, in the determinations of human capital [...]

How does information credibility, a subjective judgment of investors, affect empirical asset pricing in financial markets? Traditional economic theories are inadequate for interpreting market responses driven by people's subjective thinking, as these cognitive processes are not encompassed by the concept of utility. We explore these effects by using computational linguistics and deep structured learning algorithms to analyze financial newspapers and social media posts. After controlling for factors related to content and market momentum in our narrative based credibility indicator, we find that news credibility is positively correlated with the returns on assets preferred by experts and negatively correlated with assets preferred by gamblers. Based on this finding, we point out that the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) is not appropriate in the dominant market of gamblers in the short-term. In the long-term, however, investment motivation does not significantly affect the validity of the hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using transaction‐level data, we study if two popular policies intended to cool an overheated housing market would serve their intended purposes. We found both mortgage tightening and Special Stamp Duties (SSD) actually led to higher starter home prices in Hong Kong. Mortgage tightening shifted the demand for bigger homes to that for smaller ones. The SSD that applies to resales within a specified period of the original purchase lowered turnover across the housing market. The decline in turnover is, as expected, sharpest for small flats, implying a dramatic shrinkage in second‐hand supply of such homes, driving their prices up. We also found transactions bunching as many homes are held till the SSD is no longer applicable, indicating lock‐in effects. Relative to those that are not subject to the SSD, the prices of properties subject to the levy are found to be lower by 6.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper directly tests for differences in returns to education between the employed and self-employed in Hong Kong. Using a step-function, we find significantly smaller returns for the self-employed, suggesting that in the highly competitive labor market of Hong Kong education plays a signaling role. This pattern persists for both genders, when accounting for self-selection into employment status and when accounting for self-employed professionals who signal.

A survey of 770 Hong Kong firms showed that, in a developed economy with little government intervention, many companies employed older workers but were not hiring new ones. Firms were more likely to invest in training when workers were young. Delayed compensation was more acceptable to younger workers. (SK)