IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecb/ecbwps/20182180.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The role of factor substitution and technical progress in China's great expansion

Author

Listed:
  • Manu, Ana-Simona
  • McAdam, Peter
  • Willman, Alpo

Abstract

We offer a macroeconomic assessment of China’s Reform Period, highlighting several neglected channels underlining its great expansion. Estimating the supply side of the post-Reform economy reveals the relatively high (above unity) value of the elasticity of factor substitution and the time-varying pattern of factor-saving technical change. The latter we relate to trade, human capital and reallocation factors. We then demonstrate how, in addition to factor accumulation and technical progress, the above-unity elasticity of substitution can be a source of growth (the ‘de La Grandville hypothesis’). We then draw upon our estimated framework to rationalize China’s high and rising savings ratio as well as the dynamic nature of its convergence path. JEL Classification: D24, E13, O11

Suggested Citation

  • Manu, Ana-Simona & McAdam, Peter & Willman, Alpo, 2018. "The role of factor substitution and technical progress in China's great expansion," Working Paper Series 2180, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20182180
    Note: 2663204
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/pdf/scpwps/ecb.wp2180.en.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeannine Bailliu & Mark Kruger & Argyn Toktamyssov & Wheaton Welbourn, 2016. "How Fast Can China Grow? The Middle Kingdom’s Prospects to 2030," Staff Working Papers 16-15, Bank of Canada.
    2. Lau, Kam-Tim & Brada, Josef C., 1990. "Technological progress and technical efficiency in Chinese industrial growth: A frontier production function approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 113-124.
    3. Keting Shen & John Whalley, 2013. "Capital-Labor-Energy Substitution in Nested CES Production Functions for China," NBER Working Papers 19104, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. John Whalley & Chunbing Xing, 2012. "The Sustainability of Chinese Growth and the Aggregate Factor Substitution Elasticity," CESifo Working Paper Series 3736, CESifo.
    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. Shaghil Ahmed & Ricardo Correa & Daniel A. Dias & Nils Gornemann & Jasper Hoek & Anil Jain & Edith Liu & Anna Wong, 2022. "Global Spillovers of a Chinese Growth Slowdown," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-23, December.
    2. Michael Knoblach & Fabian Stöckl, 2020. "What Determines The Elasticity Of Substitution Between Capital And Labor? A Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 847-875, September.
    3. Zhang, Xiaobei & Wang, Xiaojun, 2021. "Measures of human capital and the mechanics of economic growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Song, Eunbi, 2021. "What drives labor share change? Evidence from Korean industries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 370-385.
    5. Shaghil Ahmed & Ricardo Correa & Daniel A. Dias & Nils M. Gornemann & Jasper Hoek & Anil K. Jain & Edith X. Liu & Anna Wong, 2019. "Global Spillovers of a China Hard Landing," International Finance Discussion Papers 1260, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

    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. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi & Elena Paglialunga, 2019. "Capital–energy substitutability in manufacturing sectors: methodological and policy implications," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(2), pages 157-182, June.
    2. Glawe, Linda & Wagner, Helmut, 2020. "China in the middle-income trap?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Yao, Shujie, 1997. "Profit Sharing, Bonus Payment, and Productivity: A Case Study of Chinese State-Owned Enterprises," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 281-296, June.
    4. Matthew K. Heun & João Santos & Paul E. Brockway & Randall Pruim & Tiago Domingos & Marco Sakai, 2017. "From Theory to Econometrics to Energy Policy: Cautionary Tales for Policymaking Using Aggregate Production Functions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-44, February.
    5. Mingyue Wang & Yu Liu & Yawen Liu & Shunxiang Yang & Lingyu Yang, 2018. "Assessing Multiple Pathways for Achieving China’s National Emissions Reduction Target," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Wagner, Helmut, 2018. "Structural change, rebalancing, and the danger of a middle-income trap in China," BOFIT Policy Briefs 6/2018, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    7. Choe, Chongwoo & Yin, Xiangkang, 2000. "Contract management responsibility system and profit incentives in China's state-owned enterprises," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 98-112.
    8. Skelton, Alexandra C.H. & Paroussos, Leonidas & Allwood, Julian M., 2020. "Comparing energy and material efficiency rebound effects: an exploration of scenarios in the GEM-E3 macroeconomic model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    9. Y. Wu, 1997. "Productivity & Efficiency: Evidence from the Chinese regional economies," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 97-18, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    10. Huang, Yiping & Duncan, Ron, 1997. "How Successful Were China's State Sector Reforms?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 65-78, February.
    11. Wu, Yanrui, 2000. "Is China's economic growth sustainable? A productivity analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 278-296.
    12. Jeannine Bailliu & Doga Bilgin & Kun Mo & Kurt Niquidet & Benjamin Sawatzky, 2019. "Global Commodity Markets and Rebalancing in China: The Case of Copper," Discussion Papers 2019-3, Bank of Canada.
    13. Mr. Christopher S Adam & Mr. Edward F Buffie, 2020. "The Minimum Wage Puzzle in Less Developed Countries: Reconciling Theory and Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2020/023, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Patrick Alexander & Michael Francis & Christopher Hajzler & Kristina Hess & Patrick Kirby & Louis Poirier & Sri Thanabalasingam, 2017. "Assessing Global Potential Output Growth," Staff Analytical Notes 17-3, Bank of Canada.
    15. Michael Knoblach & Fabian Stöckl, 2020. "What Determines The Elasticity Of Substitution Between Capital And Labor? A Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 847-875, September.
    16. Zheng, Jinghai & Liu, Xiaoxuan & Bigsten, Arne, 2003. "Efficiency, technical progress, and best practice in Chinese state enterprises (1980-1994)," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 134-152, March.
    17. Dong, Xiao-Yuan & Putterman, Louis, 2000. "Prereform Industry and State Monopsony in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 32-60, March.
    18. Xiaofeng Li & Tingjie Lu, 2020. "Capital, labor, and derived demand for information: Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 339-353, April.
    19. Xiao, De & Yu, Fan & Guo, Chenhao, 2023. "The impact of China's pilot carbon ETS on the labor income share: Based on an empirical method of combining PSM with staggered DID," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    20. Chongwoo Choe & Xiangkang Yin, 2000. "Do China's State‐Owned Enterprises Maximize Profit?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 76(234), pages 273-284, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; de La Grandville hypothesis; factor substitution; growth; optimal savings; reform period; TFP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ecb:ecbwps:20182180. 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: Official Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emieude.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.