Why are organizations sometimes so similar, and in other cases so different? For decades this question has been central to research on organizations, and two leading theories have answered the question very differently. Neo-institutional theory has pointed to the importance of mimetic isomorphism, where organizations imitate one another as they navigate decisions in the context of uncertainty over what is regarded as legitimate action. By contrast, ecological theory argues that competitive exclusion explains the differences we see around us, as organizations repel one another when they vie for the same resources. Decades of empirical work has tended to confirm one or the other theory, with scant effort being made to reconcile these conflicting predictions. Furthermore, much of the existing empirical work is limited to descriptive studies that make little or no attempt to empirically identify their findings, leaving the empirical record open to concerns over endogeneity. This paper conducts an identified empirical test, in a context where the two arguments make opposing predictions. In an analysis of auditor selection after the collapse of Arthur Andersen, we find evidence of competitive exclusion, but no evidence of mimetic isomorphism. Implications for the continued progress of organization theory are discussed.

Objective: As elderly parents today will share a longer life with their children than ever before, the spillover effects of children's human capital on parents' wellbeing become increasingly important. This study investigated whether children's schooling leads parents to give up smoking and whether the effects were moderated by their education or child-parent contact frequency. Methods: Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we conducted an instrumental variable analysis using China's compulsory schooling reform in the 1980s as a natural experiment. Results: The Instrumental Variable (IV) estimates suggest that elderly parents of more highly educated children are more likely to quit smoking. Moreover, the effects are more significant among parents who had not finished primary school and also slightly stronger among parents who live close to their children or meet their children frequently. Discussion: Our findings add to current evidence on spillover effects of education in smoking cessation. A child's education may exert the impact through the spillover of health knowledge.

Governments worldwide have taken unprecedented social distancing and community lockdown measures to halt the COVID-19 epidemic, leaving millions of people restrained in locked-down communities and their mental well-being at risk. This study examines Chinese rural residents' mental health risk under emergency lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. It investigates how the environmental, socioeconomic, and behavioral dimensions of community support affect mental health in this emergency context. We also explore whether community support's effectiveness depends on the strictness of lockdown measures implemented and the level of individual perceived COVID-19 infection risk. We collect self-reported mental health risk, community support, and demographics information through a cross-sectional survey of 3892 Chinese rural residents living in small towns and villages. Ordinary least square regressions are employed to estimate the psychological effects of community support. The results suggest that the COVID-19 epidemic and lockdown policies negatively affect psychological well-being, especially for rural females. The capacity for community production has the largest impact on reducing mental health risks, followed by the stability of basic medical services, community cohesion, housing condition, the stability of communications and transportation supply, and the eco-environment. The effectiveness of different community support dimensions depends on the level of lockdown policy implemented and the levels of one's perceived risk of COVID-19 infection. Our study stresses the psychological significance of a healthy living environment, resilient infrastructure and public service system, and community production capacity during the lockdown in rural towns and villages.

This study revisits the association between bilateral relations and trade based on rare-event data from Integrated Data for Event Analysis (IDEA). Our results suggest that a country imports more from another if the two countries are friendlier. We further argue that states face two constraints when attempting to manipulate trade. First, they are constrained by domestic institutions such as elections and Congress. Second, they are constrained by international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). Our results show that the imports of authoritarian countries follow the flag of politics, but democratic countries' imports are less likely to be affected by bilateral relations. Moreover, WTO membership can gradually restrict democratic states from intervening on imports but has little impact on authoritarian governments.

This research sheds light on the link between social norms and economic development. It explores the determinants of inheriting the mother’s surname in China and its implications for children’s health status and education outcomes. It establishes that children whose mothers are younger, more educated, and from regions with a lower sex ratio are more likely to be named after their mother. Moreover, these children have superior health and education outcomes, reflecting predominantly the impact of women’s higher bargaining power on children’s human capital accumulation.