Hung-Hao Chang - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Hung-Hao Chang

Social Science Journal, Jun 1, 2010

The Singapore Economic Review

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on tourist hotel performance and tourism demand in Tai... more This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on tourist hotel performance and tourism demand in Taiwan. We use population-based administrative data on tourist hotels and visits with official records of COVID-19 cases to estimate the effect of the disease on the industry. Results show that a 1% increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 decreased the total revenues, and the room revenues and food and beverage revenues of tourist hotels by 0.33%, 0.47% and 0.26%, respectively. Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is heterogeneously distributed among tourist hotels of different quality. With respect to mechanism behind the negative effect of COVID-19 on tourist hotel performance, decreases in tourism demand is a driving factor. We find that a 1% increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 reduces the number of tourist visits by 0.10%.

Journal of Housing and the Built Environment

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020

Afforestation programs have become increasingly significant as policymakers attempt to protect th... more Afforestation programs have become increasingly significant as policymakers attempt to protect the environment and reduce climate change. Although many studies have examined the participation decisions of forest farm households in afforestation programs, these studies fail to consider different types of these policies. This paper fills this knowledge gap by studying the determinants of forest farms participating in two afforestation programs on plain and sloped land in Taiwan. We construct a population-based sample of forest farms drawn from agricultural census surveys in Taiwan and estimate the multinomial logit model. We find that failing to distinguish between afforestation programs may result in misleading findings. Moreover, socio-demographic and farm production characteristics also affect participation decisions. Additional results from a simple simulation exercise show that forest farms are more likely to enroll in afforestation programs on sloped land, possibly due to lower ...

In investigating the association between the school lunch programs and children's body weight... more In investigating the association between the school lunch programs and children's body weight, this study focuses on the school lunch programs in Taiwan. Using a national representative dataset of elementary schoolchildren, we estimate a mixed multinomial logit model to cope with the potential endogeneity issue, and examine how different types of food preparations for school meal programs may affect children's weight in different ways. The results indicate that children who go to schools which serve lunch meals prepared by school kitchens tend to have lower weight on average. In contrast, children who go to schools offering lunch boxes purchased from outside restaurants tend to have higher weight on average. From a policy standard point of view, our findings could shed some light on how school lunch policy can be designed to help prevent children's obesity.

Literature on capitalization of agricultural policies documents that government subsidies can inc... more Literature on capitalization of agricultural policies documents that government subsidies can increase farmland values, and empirical evidence has been found in a variety of agricultural programs. However, little attention has been paid on agricultural disaster relief programs (ADRP). This paper argues that the well-documented capitalization effect of agricultural subsidies on farmland prices may not be directly applied to the ADRP because disaster shocks may also result in a negative effect on farmland values due to their stigmatized effect on the affected farmland. This paper empirically examines the effect of the ADRP payments on farmland prices using the case of Taiwan as an illustration. A unique dataset of 97,864 parcels of farmland transacted in the farmland market is used. Information of ADRP payments was drawn from the administrative profile. By estimating the fixed effect and instrumental variable fixed effect model, a negative effect of the incidence and level of the ADRP...

This paper identifies factors affecting the distribution of farm income among dairy producers ove... more This paper identifies factors affecting the distribution of farm income among dairy producers over time. Using data from participants in Cornell's Dairy Farm Record Program, we decompose differences of farm income distributions into those due to: differences in means of observable farm characteristics, differential marginal effects of characteristics and unobserved random error. The distribution of farm income is affected by factors reflecting the operators' experience and investment in human capital and indicators of management efficiency and level of capital investment. The marked changes in marginal contributions of these factors explain most of the total change in the distribution of income.

Using data from a national survey of farm households in the United States, this paper examines th... more Using data from a national survey of farm households in the United States, this paper examines the effects of farm households' decisions to participate in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and to work off the farm on the technical efficiency of farm household production. After controlling for the self selection bias in estimating the multiple output-oriented distance functions, results show that operators' decisions to work off the farm (both separately and combined with participation in CRP) lead to higher technical efficiencies for farm household production— implying improvements in the resource allocation between farm and other productive activities by farm households. The technical efficiencies of household production of those farm households participating only in the CRP are lower.

Agriculture, 2022

Research has examined the impact of green payment programs on agricultural and economic outcomes ... more Research has examined the impact of green payment programs on agricultural and economic outcomes such as agricultural productivity and farm income. However, it is unclear whether these policies are capitalized into farmland prices. This paper provides some of the first evidence on the causal impact of green payment programs on farmland prices based on evidence from Taiwan. Using administrative farmland transactions data with the ordinary least squares (OLS) method and the semi-parametric smooth coefficient model (SCM), we find that green payment programs increase farmland prices by an average of 3.9 percentage points in townships that implemented the policy. Moreover, the program’s effects on farmland prices are not homogenous, varying by farmland size. The magnitude of this effect is more pronounced on rural farmland prices and across quantiles of the farmland size distribution.

Land, 2021

The literature on the capitalization of agricultural policies documents that government subsidies... more The literature on the capitalization of agricultural policies documents that government subsidies can increase farmland values with attesting empirical evidence found in a variety of agricultural programs. This study argues that the well-documented capitalization effect of agricultural subsidies on farmland prices may not be directly related to the agricultural disaster relief program (ADRP). On the one hand, disaster relief payments can positively capitalize into farmland prices. On the other hand, disaster shocks may result in farm income loss which can decrease farmland prices. This paper empirically examines the overall effect of the ADRP on farmland prices in Taiwan. A unique dataset on 97,864 parcels of farmland transacted in the farmland market is used. By estimating the fixed effect and instrumental variable fixed effect model, a negative overall effect of the incidence and the level of ADRP payments on farmland prices is evident. Moreover, the effect is more pronounced amon...

Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2021

A rapidly growing literature examines the impacts of COVID-19 on consumer spending and business o... more A rapidly growing literature examines the impacts of COVID-19 on consumer spending and business operations. However, little is yet known about its effects on the food industry. We contribute to this topic by quantifying the effects of COVID-19 on the Taiwanese food industry, including food manufacturing, wholesale, retail and service sectors. Using administrative data on the business transactions of food industry firms in Taiwan with a difference-in-differences model, we find that COVID-19 reduced the total sales value of the food industry by 24%. However, the negative effects are unequally distributed among different sectors of the food industry. The negative effect is more pronounced in the food manufacturing sector. We also find a substantial impact in urban areas, high-income areas and areas with a larger proportion of elderly population. Compared to most of the countries that implemented mandatory lockdowns to cope with COVID-19, Taiwan maintained good control over the pandemic in 2020. The mobility of Taiwanese residents is much higher than those of other countries with severe infection rates. However, we show that there are still significant economic impacts on the food industry in Taiwan.

Due to the increased share of food consumption away from (FAFH) on overall household food expendi... more Due to the increased share of food consumption away from (FAFH) on overall household food expenditure, a considerable body of literature has examined the impacts of FAFH on diet quality and physical health. A conventional wisdom is that FAFH is associated with poor diet quality, and it also increases the likelihood of being overweight. However, not much attention has been paid to the association between FAFH and mental health of the individual. Since mental health is as important as physical health, a better understanding of the effect of FAFH on mental health is crucial for policy making. This study contributes to this knowledge gap by assessing the causal effect of FAFH on elderly depression using a national representative dataset of elderly in Taiwan. Results indicate that elderly who consumed food away from home is more likely to be depressed by 34% compared to their counterparts of FAFH non-participants, after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and other factors.

Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition, 2009

OBJECTIVE To investigate the difference in the prevalence of obesity and the associations between... more OBJECTIVE To investigate the difference in the prevalence of obesity and the associations between the risk of obesity and socioeconomic factors with regard to working adults in China and Taiwan. DATA The 2000 China Health and Nutrition Survey and the 2001 National Health Interview Survey in Taiwan, which contains information from 20-60-year-old working adults in China (3,067 men and 2,998 women) and Taiwan (6,475 men and 6,341 women). METHOD Variables were converted to cross-economy comparable forms, and the estimated prevalence of obesity across socioeconomic groups was compared between China and Taiwan. Probit models were used to examine the associations between socioeconomic factors and the probability of being obese. RESULTS In China, the prevalence of obesity was higher in the higher income, more educated, and more sedentary occupation groups, while it was higher in the lower income and less educated groups in Taiwan. Also, our results indicate that occupational types rather th...

This study examines the impact of administrative fines, as a result of rulings by the Taiwan Fair... more This study examines the impact of administrative fines, as a result of rulings by the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission, on the market concentration of industrial sectors in Taiwan. The administrative fines levied on cartels, violations of merger notifications, vertical restraints, and unfair competition are considered. By estimating a panel data fixed effect model using a dataset of 4,203 industrial sectors between 2006 and 2014, it is evident that the imposition of fines on cartel conduct have significantly reduced market concentration. Both direct and indirect deterrence effects of the fines have been found. Moreover, the introduction of a leniency program and an increase in the maximum amount for anticompetitive behavior have resulted in a stronger impact in terms of reducing market concentration.

This study empirically assesses the causal effect of the minimum lot size program on farmland val... more This study empirically assesses the causal effect of the minimum lot size program on farmland values in Taiwan. A unique dataset of 4,032 parcels of farmland drawn from administrative foreclosure auction profiles between 2000 and 2008 and regression discontinuity design were applied to cope with the endogeneity issue of land use regulations. The results of the parametric and nonparametric estimations indicate that the minimum lot size program significantly increases farmland value by approximately 18% and 15%, respectively. Moreover, the program effect is more pronounced for farmland located in urban/suburban areas. In the absence of a tax effect and externality resulting from non-agricultural activities, the significant program effect on farmland values is likely to result from the effect of the program on farmland’s option value for future development.

Forest Policy and Economics, 2020

Journal of Housing Economics, 2020