IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecosys/v34y2010i2p160-177.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic growth and multi-tasking by state-owned enterprises: An analytic framework and empirical study based on Chinese provincial data

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Xianfeng
  • Li, Ping
  • Lotspeich, Richard

Abstract

By preventing large-scale unemployment during China's economic transition, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) helped maintain social stability, which supported the development of non-state sectors through a positive externality. Yet this burden reduced the productive efficiency of SOEs. Using a simple framework with two sectors, our paper decomposes the conflicting contributions of SOEs (lower efficiency but enhanced stability) to regional economic growth during 1992-2007. We find that productive efficiency in the state sector was lower than in other sectors and identify a significant positive externality that supported non-state sectors. Since these two effects offset each other, the contribution of SOEs to economic growth in China during our sample time frame was not significantly different from that of non-state enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Xianfeng & Li, Ping & Lotspeich, Richard, 2010. "Economic growth and multi-tasking by state-owned enterprises: An analytic framework and empirical study based on Chinese provincial data," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 160-177, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:34:y:2010:i:2:p:160-177
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939-3625(10)00006-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hossein Jalilian & John Weiss, 1997. "POLICY ARENA: Bureaucrats, Business and Economic Growth," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(6), pages 877-885.
    2. Li, Kui-Wai, 2009. "China's total factor productivity estimates by region, investment sources and ownership," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 213-230, September.
    3. Woo Wing Thye & Hai Wen & Jin Yibiao & Fan Gang, 1994. "How Successful Has Chinese Enterprise Reform Been? Pitfalls in Opposite Biases and Focus," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 410-437, June.
    4. Gérard Roland, 2004. "Transition and Economics: Politics, Markets, and Firms," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026268148x, December.
    5. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Wing Thye Woo, "undated". "Understanding China'S Economic Performance," Department of Economics 97-04, California Davis - Department of Economics.
    6. Jefferson, Gary H, 1998. "China's State Enterprises: Public Goods, Externalities, and Coase," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 428-432, May.
    7. Zuliu F. Hu & Mohsin S. Khan, 1997. "Why Is China Growing So Fast?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 44(1), pages 103-131, March.
    8. Chen, Baizhu & Feng, Yi, 2000. "Determinants of economic growth in China: Private enterprise, education, and openness," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15.
    9. Chow, Gregory & Lin, An-loh, 2002. "Accounting for Economic Growth in Taiwan and Mainland China: A Comparative Analysis," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 507-530, September.
    10. Gylfason, Thorvaldur & Herbertsson, Tryggvi Thor & Zoega, Gylfi, 1998. "Ownership and Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 1900, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Ram, Rati, 1986. "Government Size and Economic Growth: A New Framework and Some Evidencefrom Cross-Section and Time-Series Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(1), pages 191-203, March.
    12. Bai, Chong-En & Li, David D. & Tao, Zhigang & Wang, Yijiang, 2000. "A Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 716-738, December.
    13. Feder, Gershon, 1983. "On exports and economic growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-2), pages 59-73.
    14. Lo, Dic, 1999. "Reappraising the Performance of China's State-Owned Industrial Enterprises, 1980-96," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(6), pages 693-718, November.
    15. Jefferson, Gary H. & Rawski, Thomas G. & Li, Wang & Yuxin, Zheng, 2000. "Ownership, Productivity Change, and Financial Performance in Chinese Industry," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 786-813, December.
    16. Chong-En Bai & Jiangyong Lu & Zhigang Tao, 2006. "The Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform: Empirical Evidence from China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 353-357, May.
    17. Jefferson, Gary H. & Rawski, Thomas G. & Zheng, Yuxin, 1994. "Productivity change in chinese industry: A comment," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 235-241.
    18. Wang, Yan & Yao, Yudong, 2003. "Sources of China's economic growth 1952-1999: incorporating human capital accumulation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 32-52.
    19. Nazrul Islam & Erbiao Dai & Hiroshi Sakamoto, 2006. "Role of TFP in China's Growth," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 127-159, June.
    20. Gregory C. Chow, 1993. "Capital Formation and Economic Growth in China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 809-842.
    21. Barry Bosworth & Susan M. Collins, 2008. "Accounting for Growth: Comparing China and India," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 45-66, Winter.
    22. Francois Doamekpor, 1998. "Contributions of State-Owned Enterprises to the Growth of Total Output," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 65-77.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shi, Jinchuan & Zhang, Xiaoqian, 2018. "How to explain corporate investment heterogeneity in China's new normal: Structural models with state-owned property rights," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-16.
    2. Mu, Rui & Jong, Martin de & Koppenjan, Joop, 2011. "The rise and fall of Public–Private Partnerships in China: a path-dependent approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 794-806.
    3. Szarzec, Katarzyna & Dombi, Ákos & Matuszak, Piotr, 2021. "State-owned enterprises and economic growth: Evidence from the post-Lehman period," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Jan Fidrmuc & Shuo Huang, 2013. "Unemployment, Growth and Speed of Transition in China," CESifo Working Paper Series 4410, CESifo.
    5. Hao Qi & David M. Kotz, 2020. "The Impact of State-Owned Enterprises on China’s Economic Growth," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 52(1), pages 96-114, March.
    6. Junsheng Ha & Pei-Pei Tan & Kim-Leng Goh, 2018. "Linear and nonlinear causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in China: New evidence based on wavelet analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, May.
    7. Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Yoshino, Naoyuki & Kim, Chul Ju & Mortha, Aline, 2019. "A Comprehensive Evaluation Framework on the Economic Performance of State-Owned Enterprises," ADBI Working Papers 949, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    8. Piotr Matuszak, 2023. "State-Owned Enterprises and Endogenous Growth," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 15(1), pages 65-89, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zheng, Jinghai & Bigsten, Arne & Hu, Angang, 2009. "Can China's Growth be Sustained? A Productivity Perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 874-888, April.
    2. Li, Kui-Wai & Liu, Tung, 2011. "Economic and productivity growth decomposition: An application to post-reform China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 366-373.
    3. Chen, Shiyi & Jefferson, Gary H. & Zhang, Jun, 2011. "Structural change, productivity growth and industrial transformation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 133-150, March.
    4. Hao Qi & David M. Kotz, 2020. "The Impact of State-Owned Enterprises on China’s Economic Growth," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 52(1), pages 96-114, March.
    5. Zhou, Xianbo & Li, Kui-Wai & Li, Qin, 2011. "An analysis on technical efficiency in post-reform China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 357-372, September.
    6. Alberto GABRIELE, 2001. "Science And Technology Policies, Industrial Reform And Technical Progress In China. Can Socialist Property Rights Be Compatible With Technological Catching Up?," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 155, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    7. Xianfeng Huang & Ping Li & Richard Lotspeich, 2009. "The size of the SOE sector and macroeconomic performance: an empirical study based on Chinese provincial data," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 319-343, November.
    8. WU, Jidong & LI, Ning & SHI, Peijun, 2014. "Benchmark wealth capital stock estimations across China's 344 prefectures: 1978 to 2012," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 288-302.
    9. Minzhe Du & Bing Wang & Yanrui Wu, 2014. "Sources of China’s Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis Based on the BML Index with Green Growth Accounting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-22, September.
    10. Fleisher, Belton & Li, Haizheng & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2010. "Human capital, economic growth, and regional inequality in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 215-231, July.
    11. Liao, Pei-Ju, 2013. "The one-child policy: A macroeconomic analysis," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 49-62.
    12. Selin Ozyurt, 2009. "Total Factor Productivity Growth in Chinese Industry: 1952-2005," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 1-17.
    13. Glawe, Linda & Wagner, Helmut, 2017. "A stylized model of China’s growth since 1978," CEAMeS Discussion Paper Series 5/2017, University of Hagen, Center for East Asia Macro-economic Studies (CEAMeS), revised 2017.
    14. CHI, Wei, 2008. "The role of human capital in China's economic development: Review and new evidence," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 421-436, September.
    15. Van Leeuwen, Bas & van Leeuwen-Li, Jieli & Foldvari, Peter, 2011. "Regional human capital in Republican and New China: Its spread, quality and effects on economic growth," MPRA Paper 43582, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Haidong Yu & Juanjuan Zhao, 2020. "The Impact of Environmental Conditions on Urban Eco-Sustainable Total Factor Productivity: A Case Study of 21 Cities in Guangdong Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-21, February.
    17. Xu, Cheng-Gang, 2010. "The Institutional Foundations of China?s Reforms and Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 7654, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Massimo Caruso, 2002. "Procyclical Productivity and Output Growth in China: An Econometric Analysis," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 251-274, July.
    19. Feng, Chao & Wang, Miao & Liu, Guan-Chun & Huang, Jian-Bai, 2017. "Sources of economic growth in China from 2000–2013 and its further sustainable growth path: A three-hierarchy meta-frontier data envelopment analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 334-348.
    20. Onyango, Christopher H., 2010. "Liberalization of Services and its Implications on Cross-Border Agricultural Trade in Eastern Africa," Conference papers 332028, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:34:y:2010:i:2:p:160-177. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/osteide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.