Carl Lin

Earnings Gap, Cohort Effect and Economic Assimilation of Immigrants from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the United States

Using 1990, 2000 censuses and a 2010 survey, I examine the economic performance of ethnically Chinese immigrants from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan (CHT) in the U.S. labor market. Since 1990, relative wages of CHT migrants have been escalating in contrast to other immigrants. I show these widening gaps are largely explained by individuals endowments, mostly education. Rising U.S.-earned degrees by CHT migrants can account for this relatively successful economic assimilation. Cohort analysis shows that the economic performance of CHT migrants admitted to the U.S. has been improving, even allowing for the effect of aging.

Two Alternative Binomial Option Pricing Model Approaches to Derive Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model

In this chapter, we review two famous models on binomial option pricing, Rendleman and Barter (RB 1979) and Cox et al. (CRR 1979). We show that the limiting results of the two models both lead to the celebrated Black-Scholes formula. From our detailed derivations, CRR is easy to follow if one has the advanced level knowledge in probability theory but the assumptions on the model parameters make its applications limited. On the other hand, RB model is intuitive and does not require higher level knowledge in probability theory. Nevertheless, the derivations of RB model are more complicated and tedious. For readers who are interested in the binomial option pricing model, they can compare the two different approaches and find the best one that fits their interests and is easier to follow.

How Do Immigrants from Taiwan Fare in the U.S. Labor Market

This paper presents evidence that since 1980, relative to other immigrants, the earnings of Taiwanese immigrants have grown rapidly as they assimilate into the U.S. economy. Our estimates indicate that the rising returns to education, pre-migration experience and hours worked per week play pivotal roles for their relatively successful economic assimilation. We investigate the earnings differentials, finding that the growing gap can be largely explained by differences in individuals endowments – of which more than two-thirds can be solely attributed to education. We show that more recently arrival cohorts of Taiwanese immigrants have earned more than the older ones since 1980.

How Does the Minimum Wage Affect Firm Investments in Fixed and Human Capital? Evidence from China

This paper empirically analyzes the impact of Chinese minimum wage regulations on the firm decision to invest in physical and human capital. We exploit the geographical and inter-temporal variations of county-level minimum wages in a panel data set of all state-owned and all above-scale non-state-owned Chinese firms covering the introduction of the new Chinese minimum wage regulations in 2004. In our basic regressions including all Chinese firms, we find significant negative effects of the minimum wage on human capital investment rates and no overall effects on fixed capital investment rates. When grouping firms by their ownership structure, we find that these results hold for most firms. Foreign-owned firms are an exception to some extent, because the likelihood that they invest in human capital has not decreased in response to the policy.

The Effects of the Minimum Wage on Earnings Inequality: Evidence from China

The minimum wage has been regarded as an important element of public policy for reducing poverty and inequality. Increasing the minimum wage is supposed to raise earnings for millions of low-wage workers and therefore lower earnings inequality. However, there is no consensus in the existing literature from industrialized countries regarding whether increasing the minimum wage has helped lower earnings inequality. China has recently exhibited rapid economic growth and widening earnings inequality. Since China promulgated new minimum wage regulations in 2004, the magnitude and frequency of changes in the minimum wage have been substantial, both over time and across jurisdictions. The growing importance of research on the relationship between the minimum wage and earnings inequality and its controversial nature have sparked heated debate in China, highlighting the importance of rigorous research to inform evidence-based policy making. We investigate the contribution of the minimum wage to the well-documented rise in earnings inequality in China over the period from 2004 to 2009 by using city-level minimum wage panel data and a representative Chinese household survey, and we find that increasing the minimum wage reduces inequality – by decreasing the earnings gap between the median and the bottom decile – over the analysis period.