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Introduction
Zhiming Cheng is a Professor of Economics and Director of Research Training in the Department of Management at Macquarie Business School. He also holds an Adjunct Associate Professorship and was the UNSW Scientia Associate Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney).
Skills and Expertise
Current institution
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January 2018 - December 2024
February 2010 - July 2015
July 2017 - December 2017
Publications
Publications (158)
Studies on the determinants of entrepreneurship emphasize that challenged adults tend to become entrepreneurs. However, research has not addressed the childhood origins surrounding the propensity for entrepreneurship. This article links childhood adversity to the propensity of individuals to become migrant entrepreneurs later in life. We test hypot...
The COVID-19 pandemic and the policy measures to control its spread-lockdowns, physical distancing, and social isolation-has coincided with the deterioration of people's mental well-being. We use data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) to document how this phenomenon is related to the situation of working parents who now have to manag...
We utilise the implementation of the 1986 Compulsory Education Law in China as a natural experiment to examine the relationship between educational attainment and migrant entrepreneurship. Using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamics Survey, results from our preferred two-stage least square model, which uses instrumental variable and difference...
We investigate the effect of the provincial female-to-male wage gap on household educational expenditure for children in China. We find that an increase in the female-to-male wage ratio is positively associated with individual households' educational investment in individual children, especially the out-of-school expenditures. The positive associat...
We employ a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to investigate the causal effect of China’s Energy Conservation Law (ECL) on the energy efficiency of Chinese firms. Using data from the 2018 China Employer-Employee Survey (CEES), we find that the energy regulation has a positive impact on enterprise energy efficiency. Furthermore, we observe that...
We exploit the staggered rollout of China's Rural E-Commerce Demonstration County (REDC) program as a quasi-natural experiment to examine its impact on household portfolio decisions. Our findings reveal that rural e-commerce development reduces households' investment in risky assets, including the likelihood of holding them, the amounts invested, a...
We investigate the effect of exposure to air pollution on entrepreneurship using panel data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. To address endogeneity arising from location choices and omitted variable bias, we employ a two-way fixed effects model with an instrumental variable approach. We find that adults exposed to high level...
This study examines the happiness levels of underdog entrepreneurs who embarked on their entrepreneurial journeys in adulthood after experiencing low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood. Drawing on data from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies, we find that underdog entrepreneurs who were socioeconomically disadvantaged in childhood experience...
This paper uses panel data from the Building a New Life in Australia survey to examine the relationship between proficiency in English and labour market outcomes among humanitarian migrants. We show that having better general or speaking skills in English is associated with a higher propensity for participation in the labour force and success in ge...
Drawing from activation theory and conservation of resources (COR) theory, we propose that there is a curvilinear (inverted U-shaped) relationship between job stress and creativity, and that this curvilinear effect will be moderated by thriving, which is a key to acquiring work or non-work knowledge to mitigate pressure. We conducted two studies: a...
This chapter presents Australian and international literature about the prevalence and characteristics of children and young people with disability in out-of-home care with the aims of: (i) summarizing the challenges arising from the absence of a uniform definition of disability and (ii) discussing the implications of using alternative identifiers...
Start and end temporal landmarks are powerful in altering individual perceptions and behavior. However, there has been little research on how temporal landmarks affect tourists' choice of destination. This paper draws on conservation of resources theory in analyzing how temporal landmarks influence tourists' choice of cultural vs. natural destinati...
We examine the relationship between Internet development and entrepreneurship in China, using survey data from the China Family Panel Studies on individual entrepreneurship and administrative data on new firm registration. Employing instrumental variable (IV) and difference-in-differences (DID) approaches to address the endogeneity of Internet deve...
We conduct a comparative analysis to explore the causal impact of fiscal and administrative devolution on household entrepreneurship, using two quasi-natural experiments of devolution reforms in China. Our identification strategy leverages the phased implementation of the County Purview Expansion (CPE) and Province-Managed County (PMC) reforms, whi...
We employ the 1959-1961 Chinese Great Famine as a quasi-natural experiment to examine the relationship between experiencing adversity in childhood and financial decisions in adulthood. Using data from the 2017 China Household Finance Survey and the intensity of excess deaths during the Great Famine, results from our preferred two-part fractional re...
Objectives: Carers of children with disabilities, especially primary carers, tend to have poorer labor market outcomes than carers of typically developing children. However, the extant literature has been largely silent on whether interventions for children’s disabilities spill over to carers’ employment outcomes, if at all. We aimed to fill this g...
This study examines the relationship between menopause and women's susceptibility to energy poverty using longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The findings suggest that menopausal women are more vulnerable to energy poverty compared to non-menopausal women, with lower personal income identified as a cr...
We use the short-lived, but high-profile, China Top Brand Award to examine the causal effects of nonmonetary awards on firm innovation. To do so, we create a panel dataset by matching official China Top Brand Award recipients to the innovation outputs of listed companies. Results from difference-in-differences estimates show that firms that receive...
Our study examines the impact of air pollution on household investment in children's education. We use panel data from secondary schools in Shandong Province in China and find that a one-unit increase in PM2.5 concentration leads to a decrease in the probability of parental investment in their children's education by 3.9 percentage points. Factors...
The future of work and business is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by dynamic shifts in technology, the economy, climate, and demographics. Scholars emphasise the necessity for proactive adaptation to these changes to ensure the thriving of both individuals and organisations in future business landscapes. Recent research has increasingly un...
Using China’s higher education expansion as a natural experiment, we examine the causal effect of education quality on the proclivity to be in energy poverty. We find that education causes a reduction in the likelihood of being in energy poverty and that the point estimates are largest for those that attended elite universities, followed by those w...
Background
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 no longer a global health emergency on 5th May 2023; however, the impact of COVID-19 on life expectancy throughout the pandemic period is not clear. This study aimed to quantify and decompose the changes in life expectancy during 2019–2023 and corresponding age and gender disparities in 27...
We examine the impact of financial literacy on the propensity for entrepreneurship among rural–urban migrants, using panel data from the 2013 and 2015 China Household Finance Survey. While migration’s positive influence on entrepreneurship is well-recognised, we document novel evidence suggesting that higher levels of financial literacy among rural...
We explore the link between child gender and household financial decisions within a cultural environment that strongly favours having a son. Using data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), we find that the presence of a daughter is associated with a lower saving rate. This is consistent with the hypothesis that such families, facing a le...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, several governments tried to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, with lockdowns that prohibited leaving one’s residence unless carrying out a few essential services. We investigate the relationship between limitations to mobility and mental health in the UK during the first year and a half...
We examine the intergenerational relationship between the early-life exposure of parents to China's Household Responsibility System (HRS) reform, which assigned collective-owned farmland to individual households, and investment in their children's education. We find that an increase in the length of exposure of parents to the HRS reform when they w...
Whether the ‘healthy migrant effect’ exhibits different patterns in mortality and morbidity and how such patterns change during the life course have not been adequately understood in the literature. Using the datasets of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this study presents an in-depth investigation of the healthy migrant effect and its age vari...
Theory and evidence on human capital suggest that those with more resources have more opportunities to advance their careers. However, entrepreneurship in developing countries may depend more on individuals' resourcefulness than resources. In this article, we investigate the proposition that those who are endowed with more resources from their pare...
The concept of circular economy (CE) has emerged as a viable way to achieving sustainable development. Small businesses and start-ups play a significant role in economic progress, but they also contribute substantially to environmental degradation. In this inductive qualitative study, we conducted multiple interviews with 18 founders of circular st...
Children with disability are over-represented in out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia and internationally. Yet we know little about their circumstances, placement types, support needs, and the outcomes of their trajectories and wellbeing through care. We examine the wellbeing and outcomes of children with and without disabilities in OOHC. We use pa...
This chapter explores the relationship between the acquisition of English language skills and subsequent labour market outcomes of refugees and other groups in humanitarian need (e.g. asylum seekers) – which we jointly refer to as ‘humanitarian migrants’ in this chapter - using panel data from the Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA) survey. Sin...
This volume focuses on processes, motivations, policies, and practices that influence international migration, the experiences of migrating and settling in a new country, and how these intertwined facets are influenced by intersectional factors and ecological systems and settings. Chapter contributions are by international and interdisciplinary sch...
With air pollution remaining a significant problem in many regions globally, an increasing number of environmentally conscious entrepreneurs have been taking initiatives to combat this issue, accompanied by a growing environmental awareness among the general public. To test the strength of this relationship, we use individual-level information from...
Utilizing a nationally representative panel data of middle-aged and elder individuals from China, we assess the health impact of environmental policies, with special attention paid to gender disparities within their effects. This study utilizes thermal inversions to address the endogeneity of air pollution and constructs a fixed effects model. Our...
The growing demand for aged care services has become a pressing challenge worldwide. However, the future changes in demand for aged care services and the corresponding socioeconomic consequences in rapidly aging societies are not yet adequately understood. To achieve a better understanding of the future demand for aged care services, this study pro...
The expected year-on-year intrinsic mortality variations/changes are largely overlooked in the existing research when estimating the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality patterns. To fill this gap, this study provides a new assessment of the loss of life expectancy caused by COVID-19 in 27 countries considering both the actual and the expec...
Migrant health constitutes an important public health issue; however, variations in the ‘healthy migrant effect’ among migrants of different nativity are not adequately understood. To fill this gap, this study examines the life expectancy (LE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) of the Australian-born population and eight major migrant groups in Aust...
Many of the more than 27 million refugees in the world today are highly educated professionals , but resolving their displacement via skilled migration pathways is typically not possible. At the request of employers facing severe skill shortages and the coordination of Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB)-a non-profit organisation-the Australian governme...
We examine the long-run impact of land reform experience in childhood and adolescence on entrepreneurship later in life. To do so, we take advantage of village-level variation in the Household Responsibility System (HRS) reform in China that transformed land property rights from a communal system into an individualized tenure system. We find that e...
We study the long-term effects of the Cultural Revolution, characterised by widespread violence, summary executions and chaos, on a set of trust outcomes among people surveyed by the China Survey in 2008. We find that the revolution, identified by cohort-specific exposure to excess deaths at the county level, has a significant long-term impact on t...
We examine the causal relationship between education and health among migrants using data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey. Our identification strategy exploits exogenous changes in compulsory schooling laws and expansion in China’s higher education sector. We find that an additional year of education causes a 2.6 percentage point increase in...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments struggled to find the right balance between re-strictive measures to contain the spread of the virus, and the effects of these measures on people’s psychological wellbeing. This paper investigates the relationship between limitations to mobility and mental health for the UK population during the COVID-19 pa...
We examine the effect of parental misbeliefs about their child’s academic achievement on household investment in children’s education in China. We find that nearly 60 per cent of parents hold inaccurate beliefs about their child’s educational performance. Parental upward biased beliefs are positively associated with both financial and time investme...
Societal crises, such as those presented by COVID-19, disrupt the education experiences of youth and deprive them of human capital. Studies show that more human capital gained through education increases the propensity for new business formation. We suggest and find consistent results for the complementary perspective that disrupted education incre...
We use data from China Family Panel Studies to examine the effects of being a child or adolescent in China's Great Famine on the likelihood of being in energy poverty in adulthood. We find that a one unit increase in the intensity of the Famine, measured by the number of excess deaths per 100 people, is associated with a 1.8-3.5 percentage points d...
Older people experience high rates of depression and suicide, yet they make a positive net contribution to the economy through activities such as employment, volunteering, and looking after grandchildren. The wellbeing of older people is therefore important not only on moral but also economic grounds. To understand which policies will facilitate th...
We study the long-term effects of the Cultural Revolution, a dramatic period in the recent history of China, characterised by widespread violence, summary executions and chaos, on a set of trust outcomes among people surveyed by the China Survey in 2008. We find that the revolution, which we identify with the interaction between cohort and excess d...
Grounded in the job demands–resources (JD-R) theory, this study investigates how the difficulty in social distancing at work, resulting from the COVID-19 crisis, may lead to intention to quit and career regret and how and when these effects may be attenuated.
Three-wave survey data were collected from 223 frontline service workers in a large resta...
This study examines the causal effects of having a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) branch on the coverage of labour contracts and social insurance among employees in private enterprises. Using a regression discontinuity design in a quasi-experimental framework, we find that having a Party branch has a significant effect on the coverage rates of indiv...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have struggled to find the right balance between restrictive measures to contain the spread of the virus, and the effects of these measures on people's psychological wellbeing. This paper investigates the relationship between limitations to mobility and mental health for British population during the COVID-...
We analyse how immigrants’ level of social assimilation is related to their labour market outcomes. More precisely, we estimate the association between assimilation and employment, wages, underemployment, three measures of job satisfaction, overeducation and wages. Using Australian longitudinal data, we find that assimilation is strongly associated...
We utilise the implementation of the 1999 higher education expansion in China as a natural experiment to examine the relationship between university educational attainment, homeownership and housing wealth. Using data from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies, results from our preferred models, which correct for endogeneity, suggest that having a un...
We examine the relationship between children's participation in the Nutrition Improvement Programme (NIP) and household education expenditure on students under compulsory education in rural China. We find that participating in the school feeding programme can significantly increase household investment in children's education, especially in-school...
This paper examines the long-run impacts of childhood left-behind experience resulting from the labour migration of one or both parents on labour market outcomes in adulthood in China. We find that exposure to a left-behind experience due to maternal migration in early and late childhood has a detrimental effect on one's probability of finding a jo...
We use the 2012-2018 China Family Panel Studies data to examine the relationship between household energy poverty and an individual's probability of becoming an entrepreneur. Consistent with the theory of underdog entrepreneurship that negative personal circumstances can foster self-reliance, resourcefulness and other skills and personality traits...
Many governments intervene in private health insurance markets to incentivise demand, balance efficiency and equity, and counter adverse selection. In the context of rising health‐care costs, this is a complex task, and understanding the relative effectiveness of interventions can help governments design an optimal policy mix. We evaluate the impac...
Developing countries host more than one-third of international migrants. However, research on the labor market outcomes of low-skilled international migrant workers in developing countries is limited. We examine the presence and sources of wage differentials across native and foreign low-skilled workers in the palm oil plantation sector in Malaysia...
We utilise the implementation of the 1986 Compulsory Education Law in China as a natural experiment to examine the causal impact of educational attainment on consumption among domestic migrants in Chinese cities. Using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, results based on the instrumental variable and difference-in-differences estimato...
Employing longitudinal data, we examine how income mediates, and sexual identity moderates, the gender-job satisfaction relationship using the theoretical lens of human capital theory. We find that income does mediate the gender-job satisfaction relationship and that the mediated relationship between gender and job satisfaction is moderated by sexu...
This study uses the longitudinal data from the Building a New Life in Australia survey to examine the relationships between human capital and labour market participation and employment status among recently arrived/approved humanitarian migrants. We find that the likelihood of participating in the labour force is higher for those who had pre-immigr...
The objective of this paper is to analyse how immigrants' ethnic identity correlates with their labour market outcomes. More precisely, we estimate the role of ethnic identity in employment, wages, under-employment (i.e., they would prefer to work more hours but are not given the opportunity), three measures of job satisfaction, overeducation and w...
Globally, labour markets are encountering profound changes because of the digital revolution. Middle income countries such as China, are leapfrogging high-income countries to take advantage of the digital economy. The growing use of digital technologies is also reshaping the labour market in high-income countries such as Australia. Potentially, new...
The iPhone is an iconic brand in China. In this article, we examine the impact of various personality factors, namely attention to social comparison information, need for uniqueness and quality consciousness, on purchase intentions for the iPhone among a sample of iPhone owners as well as non-iPhone owners. We find that intention to purchase an iPh...
We utilise the implementation of the 1986 Compulsory Education Law in China as a natural experiment to examine the causal impact of educational attainment on consumption among domestic migrants in Chinese cities. Using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, results based on the instrumental variable and difference-in-differences estimato...
We use the panel data from the Building a New Life in Australia survey to examine the relationships between proficiency in English and labour market outcomes among humanitarian migrants. While having better English ability is associated with higher propensities for participating in the labour force and getting a job, we also find that participating...
The COVID-19 pandemic and the policy measures to control its spread-lockdowns, physical distancing, and social isolation-has coincided with the deterioration of people's mental well-being. We use data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) to document how this phenomenon is related to the situation of working parents who now have to manag...
This study investigates the relationship between eldercare and employee subjective wellbeing. Employing a dynamic analysis of national panel data over ten waves in Australia, the study examines the intertemporal effects of lagged and current eldercare on subjective wellbeing, including general life and job satisfaction, satisfaction with free time,...
China has experienced rapid growth in inequality in housing wealth. We examine how housing wealth and housing wealth inequality are associated with happiness, drawing on panel data from three waves of the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS). We find that housing wealth and housing wealth inequality matter for happiness. More housing wealth increa...
We examine the health returns to proficiency in Mandarin in urban China using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies. We find that greater proficiency in Mandarin improves self-reported health, mental health and capacity to perform activities of daily living. We also examine the relationship between Mandarin proficiency and health in...
Much literature explores the relationship between income and happiness, but the literature on wealth and happiness is more limited. We use longitudinal data for China to examine the effect of absolute wealth, relative wealth and key components of wealth on happiness and happiness inequality. We find that wealthier people are generally happier and t...
We examine the relationship between (relative) consumption and happiness using panel data for China, an important developing country. We find that consumption has a positive effect on happiness. An increase in the average consumption of those of the same age, education and gender at the community level has a positive effect on happiness, consistent...
Using the theoretical lens of the Job Characteristics Model, this paper uses the data from the 2012 National Aged Care Workforce Census and Survey (NACWCS) in Australia to examine the relationship between aged care employees’ perceived job quality and intention to stay in current aged care facilities, mediated by work-life interference. We find a d...
In this study, we focus on salespeople specifically, recognizing their job tasks and processes vary significantly from other roles. Salespeople typically drive the bottom line more than other staff because of their direct effect on sales. In fact, some customers may purchase products or services because of their relationships with salespeople rathe...
We examine the relationship between homeownership and subjective wellbeing of children in China. Utilising national representative panel data from China Family Panel Studies, we find that children aged 10-15 years of homeowners have 2.79 percentage points higher subjective wellbeing than children of non-homeowners. We also identify important differ...
In urban China, improving rural–urban migrant workers’ subjective wellbeing has become an important goal for workplaces and local governments. Drawing from the social capital theory and using original survey data, we examine the relationship between migrant workers’ guanxi (‘personal relations’ in the Chinese context) with their supervisors and the...
Much literature explores the relationship between income and happiness, but the literature on wealth and happiness is more limited. We use longitudinal data for China to examine the effect of absolute wealth, relative wealth and key components of wealth on happiness and happiness inequality. We find that wealthier people are generally happier and t...
Improving people’s life satisfaction has become an important goal for many individuals and societies. In this study we investigate how grit influences life satisfaction. We propose that individuals’ self-esteem mediates the relationship between grit and life satisfaction. Study 1, with a sample of 243 employees enrolled in a business training cours...
This study investigates the relationship between eldercare and employee subjective wellbeing. Employing a dynamic analysis of national panel data over ten waves in Australia, the study examines the intertemporal effects of lagged and current eldercare on subjective wellbeing, including general life and job satisfaction, satisfaction with free time,...
This study examines the settlement intentions of migrants based on original survey data collected from four large Chinese cities. Despite the long-lasting institutional effects of the hukou (household registration) system, market mechanisms are becoming increasingly important in affecting migrant settlement intentions. Although rural hukou holders...
We examine the educational spillover effects of migrant students on local students' academic achievement in public middle schools in urban China. The identification of peer effects relies on idiosyncratic variation in the proportion of migrant students across classes within schools. We find that the proportion of migrant students in each class has...
Improving the quality of life for students has become a major concern for educational institutions. Using a sample of 262 university students (mean age 19.25 years) in China, this study investigates the mediating role of self-esteem in the relationships between social support and academic achievement and between social support and emotional exhaust...
Achievement goals are cognitive representations that guide behavior to a competence-related future end state. Existing theories and empirical findings suggest that achievement goals are potentially related to life satisfaction. However, the relationship between achievement goals and life satisfaction remains relatively unexplored in the psychology...
This study uses the longitudinal data from the Building a New Life in Australia survey to examine the relationships between human capital and labour market participation and employment status among recently arrived/approved humanitarian migrants. It includes attention to the heterogeneity of labour force participation and employment status across g...
