Speaker: Professor Wei Dongxia (Guangdong University of Finance)
Host: Assistant Professor Xie Mingjia (Li Anmin Institute of Economics, Liaoning University)
Guest Introduction: Assistant Professor Lan Lan (Li Anmin Institute of Economics, Liaoning University)
Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2024
Time: 10:00-11:30 AM (Beijing Time)
Venue: First-floor conference room, Wuzhou Garden, Chongshan Campus, Liaoning University
Online Meeting: Tencent Meeting ID 358-6417-4104
Language: Chinese/English
Abstract: Currently, China is in the phase of transitioning from a middle-income to a high-income country. Economic development and rising income levels lead to increased demand for services, while urban population size contributes to service diversity. This paper, using Chinese micro-survey data and various big data sources, finds that, as existing theories suggest, service consumption diversity promotes the development of the service industry, increasing consumption and employment. Additionally, the diversity of urban service consumption significantly enhances people's sense of well-being, with higher-income individuals experiencing even greater happiness from diverse consumption. Therefore, GDP indicators based on transaction volume and price statistics may underestimate the welfare brought by urban service diversity. The study also confirms that due to people's preference for diversity and the local nature of service consumption, individuals tend to move to and settle in cities with greater diversity. Consequently, housing prices partly reflect people's willingness to pay for diverse services, providing further explanation for the relatively higher price-to-income ratios in large cities due to the demand for diversity.
Speaker Introduction:
Professor Wei Dongxia holds a PhD in Applied Economics from Jinan University and is a master's supervisor. She is currently the Associate Dean of the International Education College at Guangdong University of Finance. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Economics from Shanxi University of Finance and Economics in 2001, and earned a master's degree in Economics from the Guanghua School of Management, Peking University in 2005. In 2018, she completed her PhD in Labor Economics at the School of Economics, Jinan University. From September 2014 to July 2015, she was a visiting scholar at Fudan University, supported by a Ministry of Education project. Her main research areas include urban economics, migrant populations, and left-behind children. In recent years, she has published more than 10 papers in journals such asEconomic Research Journal,China Economic Quarterly,World Economy and Politics, andAcademic Monthly, with five papers indexed in CSSCI. She has led one national-level project and one provincial-level project, and participated in two national-level projects. In 2024, she was awarded third prize in the Guangdong Provincial Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award. She also serves as an anonymous reviewer for journals likeEconomic Research Journal,China Economic Quarterly,Chinese Population Science,China & World Economy, andJournal of Asian Economics. Her main teaching areas includeEconometrics (Bilingual)andStatistics (Bilingual).
