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on China |
| By: | ITO Asei |
| Abstract: | With rising labor costs in China, some scholars assert that its labor-intensive industries will succumb to latecomer economies, and China's era as the "workshop of the world" will end. There is, however, little agreement regarding whether labor-intensive industries, now concentrated along the coast, are relocating to other regions. How does agglomeration affect this relocation? How does this relocation process affect the Asian Production Network (APN)? To approach these issues, this paper examines the determinants of industrial relocation in China by using province- and city-level data from 2004 to 2010, which some scholars call the "post-Lewisian turning point." We particularly focus on the significant gap in economic development in China, especially in regard to industrial agglomeration and dispersion. The results show that the capital-labor ratio is positively related to industrial growth in the coastal areas but negatively related in the central regions. Although agglomeration economies have been weak, the absolute scale of local industry includes a positive effect. In sum, both dispersion and agglomeration forces are observed, suggesting the existence of multi-force dynamics of spatial relocation in China. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:14068&r=cna |
| By: | Giles, John T. (World Bank); Mu, Ren (Texas A&M University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of land tenure insecurity on the migration decisions of China's rural residents. A simple model first frames the relationship among these variables and the probability that a reallocation of land will occur in the following year. After first demonstrating that a village leader's support for administrative land reallocation carries with it the risk of losing a future election, the paper exploits election-timing and village heterogeneity in lineage group composition and demographic change to identify the effect of land security. In response to an expected land reallocation in the following year, the probability that a rural resident migrates out of the county declines by 2.8 percentage points, which accounts for 17.5 percent of the annual share of village residents, aged 16 to 50, who worked as migrants during the period. This finding underscores the potential importance of secure property rights for facilitating labor market integration and the movement of labor out of agriculture. |
| Keywords: | migration, land tenure, property rights, China, village political economy |
| JEL: | O12 O15 J61 Q15 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8630&r=cna |
| By: | Chen, Xi (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | The tradition of keeping written records of gift received during household ceremonies in many countries offers researchers an underutilized means of data collection for social network analysis. This paper first summarizes unique features of the gift record data that circumvent five prevailing sampling and measurement issues in the literature, and we discuss their advantages over existing studies at both the individual level and the dyadic link level using previous data sources. We then document our research project in rural China that implements a multiple wave census-type household survey and a long-term gift record collection. The pattern of gift-giving in major household social events and its recent escalation is analyzed. There are significantly positive correlations between gift network centrality and various forms of informal insurance. Finally, economic inequality and competitive marriage market are among the main demographic and socioeconomic determinants of the observed gift network structure. |
| Keywords: | gift-giving, long-term gift record, social networks, centrality, China |
| JEL: | C8 D1 R2 Z1 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8642&r=cna |
| By: | Alessandra Perri (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice); Vittoria Giada Scalera (Dept. of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano); Ram Mudambi (Dept. of Strategia Management, Temple University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the integration of emerging countries into the global system of innovation, as a channel for their technological catch-up. Using data on the innovative activity in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry, we analyze the geographic dispersion of inventor networks linked to China, as a function of the characteristics of the innovative actors that coordinate their inventive work. |
| Keywords: | Emerging Countries, Technological Catch-Up, FDI |
| JEL: | M16 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:100&r=cna |
| By: | Shi Zhihong; Xuyi; Ni Yuping; Bas van Leeuwen |
| Abstract: | This paper pulls together many primary and secondary sources to arrive at consistent estimates of national income for china between the 17th and 20th centuries. We find, in line with much of the literature, that GDP per capita declined between the mid-17th and 19th centuries. This trend reversed during the 19th century, mainly due to a shift into services and, for the late 19th century onwards, also in industry. Since these sectors exhibited higher labour productivity, this fostered economic growth. This pattern of decreasing share of services and industry from the 17th century and increasing shares in the 19th century is common in many Asian countries except Japan. The reasons for this development, however, are unclear. The standard ultimate factors of growth such as institutions (low marriage age for women, exclusive society) and geography apply to almost all Asian countries. Hence, more research is necessary. |
| Keywords: | GDP, agriculture, industry, services, growth, China, economic history |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucg:wpaper:0062&r=cna |
| By: | Lucas Bretschger; Lin Zhang |
| Abstract: | There is widespread concern that an international agreement on stringent climate policies will not be reached because it would imply too high costs for fast growing economies like China. To quantify these costs we develop a general equilibrium model with fully endogenous growth. The framework includes disaggregated industrial and energy sectors, endogenous innovation, and sector-specic investments. We nd that the implementation of Chinese government carbon policies until 2020 causes a welfare reduction of 0.3 percent. For the long run up to 2050 we show that welfare costs of internationally coordinated emission reduction targets lie between 3 and 8 percent. Assuming faster energy technology development, stronger induced innovation, and rising energy prices in the reference case reduces welfare losses signicantly. We argue that increased urbanization raises the costs of carbon policies due to altered consumption patterns. |
| Keywords: | Carbon policy, China, Endogenoous growth, Induced innovation, Urbanization |
| JEL: | Q54 O41 O53 C68 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:143&r=cna |
| By: | Wang, Xiaobing; Yamauchi, Futoshi; Otsuka, Keijiro; Huang, Jikun |
| Abstract: | This paper uses farm panel data from China to examine the dynamics of land transactions, machine investments, and the demand for machine services. Recently, China's agriculture has experienced a large expansion of machine rentals and machine services provided by specialized agents, which has contributed to mechanization of agricultural production. The empirical results show that an increase in nonagricultural wage rates leads to expansion of self-cultivated land size. A rise in the proportion of nonagricultural income or the migration rate also increases the size of self-cultivated land. Interestingly, however, relatively educated farm households decrease the size of self-cultivated land, which suggests that relatively less educated farmers tend to specialize in farming. The demand for machine services has also increased if agricultural wage and migration rate increased over time, especially among relatively large farms. The results on crop income support the complementarity between rented-in land and machine services (demanded), which implies that scale economies are arising in Chinese agriculture with mechanization and active land rental markets. |
| Keywords: | Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Economic Growth,Labor Policies,Regional Economic Development,Land Use and Policies |
| Date: | 2014–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7138&r=cna |
| By: | Almås, Ingvild (NHH Norwegian School of Economics and University of Oslo,); Johnsen, Åshild Auglænd (University of Stavanger Business School); Kotsadam, Andreaa (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Estimates of poverty are highly sensitive to price and income measures across time and space. This paper offers a complementary approach to traditional poverty measurement that ensures comparability: we use nighttime light as a proxy for poverty measurement. We measure the percentage of populated areas in China with no nighttime light, and the percentage of the population living in these areas.Between 1992 and 2005, both measures reveal a steady decrease in poverty in China. From 2005 to 2010, however, we find no evidence of a significant poverty reduction. |
| Keywords: | China; Poverty; Nighttime light |
| JEL: | I30 I32 O10 |
| Date: | 2014–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2014_011&r=cna |
| By: | HLASNY, Vladimir |
| Abstract: | Chinese employers practice extensive personal screening of job applicants. This study identifies four manifestations of this practice by motive – statistical, customer taste-based, employer taste-based, and regulatory – and evaluates their prevalence, economic determinants and implications for firms’ performance using simultaneous-equations linear and Poisson models. Categorization of a regulatory motive for applicant sorting in China is one contribution of this study. Statistical screening is found to be related positively to employers’ capital intensity, labor-market power and private ownership, and negatively to the supply of skills in provincial labor markets, as may be expected. Customer-taste screening is more prevalent in service and sales industries, as expected, and interestingly in wealthy first-tier cities. Employer-taste screening appears more prevalent at privately-owned firms, and surprisingly in skill-intensive industries and in first-tier cities, potentially reflecting difficulty at distinguishing it from customer-taste screening. Regulatory screening is related positively to firms’ market power, capital intensity and state ownership, as expected. Statistical and customer-taste screening is associated with higher firm profitability, particularly in skill-intensive industries and in service and sales industries, respectively, while employer-taste and regulatory screening is associated with lower profitability, as expected. These results jointly validate our identification of the four pillars of applicant screening. |
| Keywords: | Recruitment, Job applicant screening, Profiling, Statistical & taste-based discrimination, Hukou, China, Poisson regression, Simultaneous equations model |
| JEL: | J7 J24 D83 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ant:wpaper:2014029&r=cna |