Recently, a collaborative paper by Professor Yu Miaojie (President of Liaoning University), Associate Researcher Cui Xiaomin (Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), and Lecturer Gao Kailin (School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics), published in 2024 in China Economic Quarterly, was selected as a Top-10 Representative Paper in the "International Trade and China's Economic Development" special section of the China International Trade Yearbook 2026.
Paper Abstract
Standards are an important component of a country's foundational institutional framework. This paper develops a heterogeneous-firm model linking firms' participation in standard setting to their export growth. Using Chinese standard data, annual survey data of industrial enterprises above designated size, and trade data from 1998 to 2013, the paper empirically examines the impact of standard setting on participants' export growth and identifies the underlying mechanisms. The theoretical model assumes that consumers prefer higher-quality products, but that asymmetric information exists between consumers and producers regarding product quality. By participating in standard setting, producers can signal product quality to consumers, thereby shaping consumers' expectations about the distribution of product quality in the market. The empirical findings show that standard setting has a sustained and significant positive effect on participants' export growth over a period of 1–3 years, with the contemporaneous effect being particularly pronounced—participants' export growth is on average 8.6% higher than that of non-participants. Participating in standard setting helps firms convey quality signals, and the effects vary across different trading partners and product categories.
About the Honor
The China International Trade Yearbook is the first disciplinary yearbook in the field of international trade economics in China, compiled by the National Academy of Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The yearbook is published biennially. Following the principle of "editorial committee recommendation + expert scoring + comprehensive evaluation," it selects outstanding papers published in the preceding two years across ten thematic areas, with ten representative papers chosen for each area.
Authors Profile
Yu Miaojie is the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Liaoning University. He is a Lifetime Fellow of the Royal Economic Society (FREcon), a Fellow of the International Economic Association (IEA), a Distinguished Professor under the Changjiang Scholars Program, and a recipient of the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund. He serves as a Deputy to the 14th National People's Congress and a Special Inspector of the National Commission of Supervision. He is an Associate Editor of The Economic Journal, a top-tier international economics journal. He is among the top 1% most-cited economists in the global economics and management fields, and is the only Chinese scholar to date to have received the Royal Economic Society Prize. He is the lead editor of China's Open Economy, a key state-level innovative textbook in philosophy and social sciences, and enjoys the Special Government Allowance of the State Council.
Cui Xiaomin is Deputy Director of the Editorial Office of International Economic Review and Associate Researcher at the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Peking University. Her primary research areas include international trade and global value chains. She has published over 20 papers in journals such as The Economic Journal, China Economic Quarterly, World Economy, and Journal of Financial Research. She is the author of one academic monograph and a contributing author to several others. She received the CASS Young Economist Outstanding Paper Award in 2022 and the Contemporary Economics Foundation's "China Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award in Economics" in 2018. She has also been honored with one First Prize, three Second Prizes, and three Third Prizes in the CASS Outstanding Policy Research and Countermeasure Information Awards.
Gao Kailin is a Lecturer at the School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics (UIBE). She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Peking University. Her primary research areas include international trade and the digital economy. Her research has been published in journals such as Economic Research Journal, Management World, China Economic Quarterly, Journal of Quantitative & Technological Economics, and China & World Economy. She serves as the Principal Investigator for a Young Scholar Program funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). Her research findings have twice been selected among the Top 10 Best Chinese Papers in International Investment in the World Economy Yearbook.
