IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hkm/wpaper/232013.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Chinese Political and Economic Governance System and the Imbalance between Consumption and Investment

Author

Listed:
  • Julan Du

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research)

  • Hongsheng Fang

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Xiangrong Jin

    (Zhejiang University)

Abstract

The Chinese government has been pursuing economic growth under the guidance of "growth is a hard principle". In the context of the Chinese political and economic governance system, local governments have employed the overtaking strategy (placing primary emphasis on the development of capital and technology-intensive industries) and the real estate development strategy to push for economic growth and fiscal revenue growth. This has led to a repressed labor share and an elevated capital and government share in primary and secondary income distribution structure. Using the empirical strategy of Acemoglu et al. (2003), we confirm that the development strategies have shaped an imbalanced consumption-investment structure through primary and secondary income distribution as well as other channels. It suggests that the Chinese government will be able to accomplish China's transition from an investment-led growth model to a consumption-based growth model only if it modifies its political and economic governance system and removes the distortions in development strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Julan Du & Hongsheng Fang & Xiangrong Jin, 2013. "Chinese Political and Economic Governance System and the Imbalance between Consumption and Investment," Working Papers 232013, Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:hkm:wpaper:232013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.hkimr.org/uploads/publication/368/wp-no-23_2013-final-.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James R. Tybout, 2000. "Manufacturing Firms in Developing Countries: How Well Do They Do, and Why?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 11-44, March.
    2. Jorgenson, Dale W. & Vu, Khuong M., 2010. "Potential growth of the world economy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 615-631, September.
    3. Peneder, Michael, 2003. "Industrial structure and aggregate growth," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 427-448, December.
    4. Justin Yifu Lin, 2011. "China and the global economy," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov, pages 213-229.
    5. Acemoglu, Daron & Johnson, Simon & Robinson, James & Thaicharoen, Yunyong, 2003. "Institutional causes, macroeconomic symptoms: volatility, crises and growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 49-123, January.
    6. Mr. Jahangir Aziz & Li Cui, 2007. "Explaining China’s Low Consumption: The Neglected Role of Household Income," IMF Working Papers 2007/181, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Olivier Blanchard & Andrei Shleifer, 2001. "Federalism With and Without Political Centralization: China Versus Russia," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 48(4), pages 1-8.
    8. Denis Nitikin & Chunli Shen & Qian Wang & Heng-fu Zou, 2011. "Land Taxation in China: Assessment of Prospects for Politically and Economically Sustainable Reform," CEMA Working Papers 431, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    9. Lin,Justin Yifu, 2009. "Economic Development and Transition," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521514521.
    10. Dani Rodrik, 2010. "Making Room for China in the World Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 89-93, May.
    11. Chenggang Xu, 2011. "The Fundamental Institutions of China's Reforms and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1076-1151, December.
    12. John C. Driscoll & Aart C. Kraay, 1998. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation With Spatially Dependent Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 549-560, November.
    13. Yiping Huang, 2010. "China's Great Ascendancy and structural risks: consequences of asymmetric market liberalisation," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 24(1), pages 65-85, May.
    14. Yiping Huang & Kunyu Tao, 2010. "Factor Market Distortion and the Current Account Surplus in China," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 9(3), pages 1-36, Fall.
    15. Fubing Su & Ran Tao & Lu Xi & Ming Li, 2012. "Local Officials' Incentives and China's Economic Growth: Tournament Thesis Reexamined and Alternative Explanatory Framework," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 20(4), pages 1-18, July.
    16. Chong-En Bai & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Yingyi Qian, 2006. "The Return to Capital in China," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 37(2), pages 61-102.
    17. Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Political turnover and economic performance: the incentive role of personnel control in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1743-1762, September.
    18. Justin Lin & Ha-Joon Chang, 2009. "Should Industrial Policy in Developing Countries Conform to Comparative Advantage or Defy it? A Debate Between Justin Lin and Ha-Joon Chang," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 27(5), pages 483-502, September.
    19. Bai, Chong-En & Du, Yingjuan & Tao, Zhigang & Tong, Sarah Y., 2004. "Local protectionism and regional specialization: evidence from China's industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 397-417, July.
    20. Yiping HUANG, 2010. "Dissecting the China Puzzle: Asymmetric Liberalization and Cost Distortion," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 5(2), pages 281-295, December.
    21. Hongsheng Fang & Xiangrong Jin, 2010. "Role Of Economic Structural Adjustment For Long‐Term Economic Stability In China: Estimation Based On Variance Decomposition," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 637-652, December.
    22. Yiping Huang & Bijun Wang, 2010. "Cost Distortions and Structural Imbalances in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 18(4), pages 1-17, July.
    23. Chen, Ye & Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Relative performance evaluation and the turnover of provincial leaders in China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 421-425, September.
    24. Dennis Tao Yang, 2012. "Aggregate Savings and External Imbalances in China," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 125-146, Fall.
    25. Wing Thye Woo, 2006. "The Structural Nature of Internal and External Imbalances in China," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1-19.
    26. Ming LU & Hong GAO, 2011. "Labour market transition, income inequality and economic growth in China," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 150(1-2), pages 101-126, June.
    27. C. Fred Bergsten & Charles Freeman & Nicholas R. Lardy, 2009. "China's Rise: Challenges and Opportunities (paper)," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 4341, October.
    28. Changyuan Luo & Jun Zhang, 2010. "Declining Labor Share: Is China's Case Different?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 18(6), pages 1-18, November.
    29. Yiping Huang & Bijun Wang, 2010. "Cost Distortions and Structural Imbalances in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 18(s1), pages 1-17.
    30. Dorothee Schneider, 2011. "The Labor Share: A Review of Theory and Evidence," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2011-069, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
    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. Guangdong Xu, 2015. "The Institutional Foundations of China’s Unbalanced Economy," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 67(9), pages 1351-1370, October.

    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. Du, Julan & Fang, Hongsheng & Jin, Xiangrong, 2014. "The “growth-first strategy” and the imbalance between consumption and investment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 441-458.
    2. Yao, Yang, 2014. "The Chinese Growth Miracle," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 7, pages 943-1031, Elsevier.
    3. M. Albert & C. Jude & C. Rebillard, 2015. "The Long Landing Scenario: Rebalancing from Overinvestment and Excessive Credit Growth. Implications for Potential Growth in China," Working papers 572, Banque de France.
    4. Jing Wu & Hao Li & Keyang Li, 2020. "Local political chief turnover and economic growth: Evidence from China," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 441-466, July.
    5. Yu Bai & Yanjun Li, 2022. "Political tournaments and regional growth‐enhancing policies: Evidence from Chinese prefectures," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(5), pages 1358-1385, November.
    6. Jiancai Pi, 2017. "An economic analysis of the political promotion system in China," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 35(2), pages 375-390.
    7. van Treeck, Till. & Sturn, Simon., 2012. "Income inequality as a cause of the Great Recession? : A survey of current debates," ILO Working Papers 994709343402676, International Labour Organization.
    8. Wang, Li & Menkhoff, Lukas & Schröder, Michael & Xu, Xian, 2019. "Politicians’ promotion incentives and bank risk exposure in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 63-94.
    9. Qichun He & Meng Sun, 2018. "Does Fiscal Decentralization Increase the Investment Rate? Evidence from Chinese Panel Data," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 19(1), pages 75-101, May.
    10. Che, Jiahua & Chung, Kim-Sau & Lu, Yang K., 2017. "Decentralization and political career concerns," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 201-210.
    11. John Knight, 2015. "The Principal-Agent Problem, Economic Growth, Subjective Wellbeing and Social Instability: China’s Effective but Flawed Governance," Economics Series Working Papers 758, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    12. Lu Ming & Zhao Chen & Yongqin Wang & Yan Zhang & Yuan Zhang & Changyuan Luo, 2013. "China’s Economic Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14502.
    13. Yiping Huang & Daili Wang & Gang Fan, 2014. "Paths to a Reserve Currency : Internationalization of the Renminbi and Its Implications," Macroeconomics Working Papers 24165, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    14. Bo, Shiyu, 2020. "Centralization and regional development: Evidence from a political hierarchy reform to create cities in china," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    15. Chen, Xiude & Qin, Quande & Wei, Y.-M., 2016. "Energy productivity and Chinese local officials’ promotions: Evidence from provincial governors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 103-112.
    16. Yu Hao & Jingwen Huang & Yunxia Guo & Haitao Wu & Siyu Ren, 2022. "Does the legacy of state planning put pressure on ecological efficiency? Evidence from China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3100-3121, November.
    17. Liu, Guy S. & Sun, Pei & Woo, Wing Thye, 2006. "The Political Economy of Chinese-Style Privatization: Motives and Constraints," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2016-2033, December.
    18. Chenggang Xu, 2011. "The Fundamental Institutions of China's Reforms and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1076-1151, December.
    19. Canfei He & Qi Guo & David Rigby, 2017. "What sustains larger firms? Evidence from Chinese manufacturing industries," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 58(2), pages 275-300, March.
    20. Chen, Ting & Kung, J.K.-S., 2016. "Do land revenue windfalls create a political resource curse? Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 86-106.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Overtaking Strategy; Real Estate Development Strategy; Biased Income Distribution Structure; Consumption-Investment Imbalances;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

    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:hkm:wpaper:232013. 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: HKIMR (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/hkimrhk.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.