IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i7p2726-d339019.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Government Subsidies and Firm-Level Markups: Impact and Mechanism

Author

Listed:
  • Wen Yue

    (School of Business, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China)

  • Jianhua Wang

    (School of Business, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China)

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of government subsidies on the firm-level markups and its mechanism of action by measuring the firm-level markups based on a micro dataset of Chinese manufacturing firms from 2000 to 2007. The findings suggest that government subsidies significantly reduce the markups of Chinese firms. Moreover, there is significant heterogeneity in the negative impact of government subsidies among different types of firms. Furthermore, analysis of the impact mechanism based on the mediation effect model shows that the increase in rent-seeking cost is an important way for government subsidies to reduce the firm-level markups. Finally, based on the dynamic decomposition of the aggregate markup of the Chinese manufacturing industry, it is found that government subsidies significantly reduce the industry-level aggregate markup through within-firm and cross-firm effects. This study enriches the literature on government subsidies and markups, and provides a new perspective for understanding the micro-performance of government subsidies.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen Yue & Jianhua Wang, 2020. "Government Subsidies and Firm-Level Markups: Impact and Mechanism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-21, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2726-:d:339019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2726/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2726/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan De Loecker, 2011. "Product Differentiation, Multiproduct Firms, and Estimating the Impact of Trade Liberalization on Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(5), pages 1407-1451, September.
    2. Nina Pavcnik, 2002. "Trade Liberalization, Exit, and Productivity Improvements: Evidence from Chilean Plants," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(1), pages 245-276.
    3. Bhagwati, Jagdish N, 1982. "Directly Unproductive, Profit-seeking (DUP) Activities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(5), pages 988-1002, October.
    4. Zheng, Ying & Zhu, Yuande, 2013. "Bank lending incentives and firm investment decisions in China," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 146-165.
    5. Philippe Aghion & Jing Cai & Mathias Dewatripont & Luosha Du & Ann Harrison & Patrick Legros, 2022. "Industrial Policy and Competition," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization, Firms, and Workers, chapter 15, pages 349-380, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Richard Harris & Mary Trainor, 2005. "Capital Subsidies and their Impact on Total Factor Productivity: Firm‐Level Evidence from Northern Ireland," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 49-74, February.
    7. Marc J. Melitz & Sašo Polanec, 2015. "Dynamic Olley-Pakes productivity decomposition with entry and exit," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 46(2), pages 362-375, June.
    8. Sourafel Girma & Yundan Gong & Holger Görg & Zhihong Yu, 2009. "Can Production Subsidies Explain China's Export Performance? Evidence from Firm‐level Data," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 111(4), pages 863-891, December.
    9. Jan De Loecker & Frederic Warzynski, 2012. "Markups and Firm-Level Export Status," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2437-2471, October.
    10. Frye, Timothy & Shleifer, Andrei, 1997. "The Invisible Hand and the Grabbing Hand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 354-358, May.
    11. Yi Lu Jr. & Linhui Yu Jr., 2015. "Trade Liberalization and Markup Dispersion: Evidence from China's WTO Accession," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 221-253, October.
    12. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    13. Dimitris Skuras & Kostas Tsekouras & Efthalia Dimara & Dimitris Tzelepis, 2006. "The Effects of Regional Capital Subsidies on Productivity Growth: A Case Study of the Greek Food and Beverage Manufacturing Industry," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 355-381, May.
    14. Sabrina T. Howell, 2017. "Financing Innovation: Evidence from R&D Grants," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(4), pages 1136-1164, April.
    15. Bernini, Cristina & Pellegrini, Guido, 2011. "How are growth and productivity in private firms affected by public subsidy? Evidence from a regional policy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 253-265, May.
    16. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    17. De Loecker, Jan, 2007. "Do exports generate higher productivity? Evidence from Slovenia," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 69-98, September.
    18. Yuquan Chen & Xiaohua Yu, 2019. "Do subsidies cause a less competitive milk market in China?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(3), pages 303-314, May.
    19. Christian Helmers & Natalia Trofimenko, 2013. "The Use and Abuse of Export Subsidies: Evidence from Colombia," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 465-486, April.
    20. Miaojie Yu, 2015. "Processing Trade, Tariff Reductions and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Firms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(585), pages 943-988, June.
    21. Albert Guangzhou Hu & Zhengning Liu, 2014. "Trade Liberalization and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Industries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 488-512, August.
    22. Lily Fang & Josh Lerner & Chaopeng Wu & Qi Zhang, 2018. "Corruption, Government Subsidies, and Innovation: Evidence from China," NBER Working Papers 25098, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Griliches, Zvi & Regev, Haim, 1995. "Firm productivity in Israeli industry 1979-1988," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 175-203, January.
    24. Xunyong Xiang & Feixiang Chen & Chun†Yu Ho & Wen Yue, 2017. "Heterogeneous effects of trade liberalisation on firm†level markups: Evidence from China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(8), pages 1667-1686, August.
    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. Wen Yue & Qingxia Lin, 2023. "Export duration and firm markups: evidence from China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.

    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. Florin Maican & Matilda Orth, 2017. "Productivity Dynamics and the Role of ‘Big-Box’ Entrants in Retailing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 397-438, June.
    2. Wen Yue, 2021. "Government subsidy and aggregate productivity dynamics: Evidence from China," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 263-282, May.
    3. Xunyong Xiang & Feixiang Chen & Chun†Yu Ho & Wen Yue, 2017. "Heterogeneous effects of trade liberalisation on firm†level markups: Evidence from China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(8), pages 1667-1686, August.
    4. Dai, Xiaoyong & Sun, Zao & Liu, Hang, 2018. "Disentangling the effects of endogenous export and innovation on the performance of Chinese manufacturing firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 42-58.
    5. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2022. "Productivity effects of processing and ordinary export market entry: A time‐varying treatments approach," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 836-853, August.
    6. Richter, Philipp M. & Schiersch, Alexander, 2017. "CO2 emission intensity and exporting: Evidence from firm-level data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 373-391.
    7. Nathaniel Lane, 2020. "The New Empirics of Industrial Policy," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 209-234, June.
    8. Li, Mingyang & Jin, Man & Kumbhakar, Subal C., 2022. "Do subsidies increase firm productivity? Evidence from Chinese manufacturing enterprises," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 303(1), pages 388-400.
    9. Linarello, Andrea, 2018. "Direct and indirect effects of trade liberalization: Evidence from Chile," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 160-175.
    10. Mao, Qilin & Sheng, Bin, 2017. "The impact of tariff reductions on firm dynamics and productivity in China: Does market-oriented transition matter?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 168-194.
    11. Emir Malikov & Shunan Zhao & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2020. "Estimation of firm‐level productivity in the presence of exports: Evidence from China's manufacturing," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(4), pages 457-480, June.
    12. Wen Yue & Qingxia Lin, 2023. "Export duration and firm markups: evidence from China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Mingyi, Wang & Zhongyi, Zhang & Xiaoyu, Liu & Siwei, Xu, 2023. "Labor price distortion and export product markups: Evidence from China labor market," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    14. Matteo Bugamelli & Francesca Lotti & Monica Amici & Emanuela Ciapanna & Fabrizio Colonna & Francesco D�Amuri & Silvia Giacomelli & Andrea Linarello & Francesco Manaresi & Giuliana Palumbo & Filippo , 2018. "Productivity growth in Italy: a tale of a slow-motion change," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 422, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    15. Wu, Guiying Laura & Feng, Qu & Wang, Zhifeng, 2021. "A structural estimation of the return to infrastructure investment in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    16. Defever, Fabrice & Imbruno, Michele & Kneller, Richard, 2020. "Trade liberalization, input intermediaries and firm productivity: Evidence from China," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    17. Jingfang Zhang & Emir Malikov, 2023. "Detecting Learning by Exporting and from Exporters," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 1-19, August.
    18. Joze Damijan & Jozef Konings & Aigerim Yergabulova, 2020. "Increasing market power in Slovenia: Role of diverging trends between exporters and non‐exporters," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5), pages 1327-1345, May.
    19. Bie, Xiaodong & Ciani, Andrea, 2021. "Born similar, develop apart: Evidence on Chinese hybrid exporters," DICE Discussion Papers 364, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    20. Alvaro Garcia-Marin & Nico Voigtländer, 2019. "Exporting and Plant-Level Efficiency Gains: It's in the Measure," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(4), pages 1777-1825.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2726-:d:339019. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.