China’s bike-sharing regulations accomplished what the firms wanted to do on their own, but were unlikely to achieve. By freezing (and even reducing over time) the number of bikes, the government helped reduce industry output. Effectively, the firms stopped competing on the number of bikes.

In this series of articles, Professor Viard discusses the role of economics in everyday life in China and the world. Recently, I shipped a Hewlett Packard (HP) printer that I had purchased in Beijing to use in my office in Hong Kong. It arrived in good condition and I replaced the ink cartridges with new […]