Speaker: Professor Xiao Wei (Research Institute of Economics and Management, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics)

Moderator: Assistant Professor Xie Mingjia (Li Anmin Institute of Economics, Liaoning University)

Guest Introduction: Assistant Professor Xie Mingjia (Li Anmin Institute of Economics, Liaoning University)

Date: Friday, November 22, 2024, 10:30–11:30 (Beijing Time)

Venue: First-Floor Conference Room, Wuzhouyuan, Chongshan Campus, Liaoning University

Online Address: Tencent Meeting 358-6417-4104

Language: Chinese/English

Abstract:

Rural governance is the cornerstone of national governance. This paper systematically evaluates the impact of rural governance reform on rural economies using nationally representative village and household-level data. The results indicate that rural governance reform significantly increases collective economic income and reduces collective debt. Mechanism analysis reveals that the reform achieves these effects by optimizing governance structures, enhancing incentives for village officials, improving resource integration, and professionalizing grassroots cadres. The findings provide policy implications for advancing the reform of China’s grassroots rural governance model.

Speaker bio：

Xiao Wei is a Professor of Economics at the Research Institute of Economics and Management, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, and a Ph.D. supervisor. He serves as the Chair of the Department of Applied Economics. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Nankai University and received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stockholm University, Sweden, in 2014. He joined Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in the same year.

Professor Xiao’s main research interests lie in regional and urban economics, focusing on areas such as land and housing markets, Chinese economic institutions, rural and urban governance, labor markets, and regional economic policy evaluation. His research has been published in internationally renowned journals such as Journal of Economic Geography, Journal of Regional Science, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Journal of Comparative Economics, Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, Small Business Economics, and Financial Research.

He has served as a reviewer for several leading journals and as an international review expert for the European Research Council.