ABSTRACT. Gonzalez et al. identify bull and bear market turning points using a formal turning-point identification procedure: the bull and bear market phases are associated with distinct and persistent mean return shifts. Jin and Zou use a panel dataset for 30 provinces in China in order to examine the relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth over two phases of fiscal decentralization in China: (i) 1979-1993 under the fiscal contract system, and (ii) 1994-1999 under the tax assignment system.