Research

Budget Institutions and Policy Choice

• Jia Chen, Min Tang, Jinhai Yu, 2025.The Effect of Legislative Incumbency on Policy Innovativeness of US States, Policy Studies Journal. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.70072.  
• Sungmin Han, Min Tang, Jinhai Yu, 2025. Nature Made the State: Exploring the Effect of Disasters on Centralization, Comparative Political Studies. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140251349661 

• Jinhai Yu, Xin Chen, Zhiwei Zhang, Rachel Boward, 2025. Mapping Government Budgeting Research A Systematic Literature Review, International Journal of Public Administration. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2024.2447080

• Kate Yang, Jinhai Yu, Xin Chen, 2024. The elusive fiscal commons- Examining fiscal interaction among overlapping governments, Public Budgeting & Finance. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/pbaf.12374
• Jinhai Yu, Zhiwei Zhang, 2023. Local Debt Financing in the Shadow of Storms Disrupted and Destructed, Public Performance & Management Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2023.2192943.
• Jia Chen, Yuan Yang, Jinhai Yu , 2022. Task complexity, organizational size, and performance An examination of the U S state budget agencies, Public Management Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2022.2116093.
• Jinhai Yu, Edward T Jennings Jr, 2020. “Politics, Competence, and Performance Evidence from the US State Budget Agencies“, Public Administration Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13277
• Jinhai Yu, Edward T. Jennings, Jr., and J.S. Butler, 2019. Dividing the Pie Parties, Institutional Limits, and State Budget Tradeoffs, State Politics & Policy Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532440018822469.
• Jinhai Yu, Zhiwei Zhang, “Future Directions for Research in National and Subnational Government Budgeting,” in W. Bartley Hildreth and Komla Dzigbede (edited), Research Handbook on Public Financial Management, Edward Elgar Publishing, London, United Kingdom, 2023.
• Jinhai Yu, 2019.  Does State Online Voter Registration Increase Voter Turnout?, Social Science Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12598.
  • See the Online Appendix here: Yu SSQ Online Appendix
  • Media coverage: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/politics/state/online-voter-registration-pennsylvania-election-reform-voter-turnout-20180712.html.
  • This paper won the 2017 Pi Alpha Alpha Doctoral Student Manuscript Award from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA).
• Jinhai Yu, Edward T. Jennings, Jr., and J. S. Butler, 2018. Lobbying, Learning, and Policy Reinvention An Examination of the American States’ Drunk Driving Laws, Journal of Public Policy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X18000363.

Financial Reporting and Fiscal Transparency

• Jinhai Yu, Nicolai Petrovsky, Zhiwei Zhang, and Josie Schafer, 2025. Popular financial reporting increases understanding interest and trust Experimental evidence, International Public Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2025.2496807 
• Jinhai Yu, 2022. When It Matters to Keep Promises OPEB Funding and Local Government Borrowing Cost, Chinese Public Administration Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/15396754221099004.
• Jinhai Yu, Xin Chen, Mark D. Robbins, 2022. Market Responses to Voter-Approved Debt, National Tax Journal. https://doi.org/10.1086/716770
• Jinhai Yu, 2021. Does financial disclosure matter GASB 45 and municipal borrowing costs, Local Government Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2020.1870956.
• Jinhai Yu, Wenchi Wei, and J.S. Butler, 2020. Fiscal Transparency and Government Credit Quality Evidence from the U.S. States, Public Performance & Management Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2020.1807368.

Performance Information and Public Management 

• Chao An, Jinhai Yu , Xi Tan, 2025. Public service motivation and policy implementation attitudes survey experimental evidence from Street-level Bureaucrats in China, Public Management Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2025.2501734 
• Xin Chen, Jinhai Yu, 2025. Does Negative Performance Feedback Cause Managerial Turnover? The Moderating Role of Race Review of Public Personnel Administration. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X251343327 
• Jinhai Yu, Xin Chen, 2025. Does organizational performance feedback affect public service outsourcing?, Urban Affairs Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10780874251330256 

• Jinhai Yu, Xin Chen, 2025. Does negative feedback on financial performance affect managerial turnover?Public Management Review. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2025.2456665

• Nicolai Petrovsky, Ge Xin, Jinhai Yu, 2022. Job Satisfaction and Citizen Satisfaction with Street-level Bureaucrats Is There a Satisfaction Mirror ? Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muac022.
• Jinhai Yu, 2021, Agency Autonomy, Public Service Motivation, and Organizational Performance, Public Management Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2021.1980290  

Selected Working Papers

• Jinhai Yu, Zhiwei Zhang, Josie Schafer, Nicolai Petrovsky, and Shannon Cummins, Citizen Use of Government Financial Information: A Lab Experiment, under review.
• Xin Chen, Jinhai Yu, Performance Feedback and Organizational Performance across Dimensions, under review.
• David Schwegman, Eric Brunner, Jinhai Yu, Xin Chen, The Impact of Large-Scale Wind Energy on Fiscal Health: Evidence from Texas, under review.
• Cameron Anglum, Eric Brunner, Jinhai Yu, Credit Ratings and School District Financing, in progress.
• Jinhai Yu, Zhiwei Zhang, Nicolai Petrovsky, Josie Schafer, Citizen Use of Government Financial Information under Various Fiscal Conditions: A Survey Experiment, in progress.
• Nicolai Petrovsky, Ge Xin, Jinhai Yu, Job Satisfaction and Citizen Satisfaction with Street-level Bureaucrats: A Field Experimental Test, in progress.