科学研究

Cong Liu is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Economic and Social Research at Jinan University. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Arizona in 2016 and her B.A. in Economics from Peking University in 2011. Her research interests include economic history, development economics, and political economy. Her work has been published in various journals, including the Journal of Economic History, Journal of Development Economics, and Economic Research Journal.

This paper examines how international firms responded to nationalism-driven consumer boycotts, with a focus on China’s largest consumer boycott in history – the one against Japan following the 1931 Mukden Incident. We analyze firms’ marketing strategies by studying 20,675 newly registered trademarks from 1928 to 1935. The difference-in-differences analysis establishes that Japanese firms were more likely than those from other countries to adopt Chinese-style trademarks after the incident, particularly in the processed goods sector that directly faced consumers. Firm-level data from the textile industry demonstrates that adopting Chinese-style trademarks helped firms sustain output levels during the boycott.