IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/chinae/v15y2007i5p18-37.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What's So Special about China's Exports? A Comment

Author

Listed:
  • Masanaga Kumakura

Abstract

Dani Rodrik argues that China's exports are unusually sophisticated for a country at its income level. He also claims that China's export sophistication reflects the government's successful industrial policy and has been instrumental in the recent acceleration of its economic growth. Although Rodrik's interpretation of China's economic growth is broadly correct, the accuracy of his empirical analysis is questionable. This note identifies several problems regarding the “export sophistication” index used in his empirical work and casts doubt on his analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Masanaga Kumakura, 2007. "What's So Special about China's Exports? A Comment," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 15(5), pages 18-37, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:15:y:2007:i:5:p:18-37
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-124X.2007.00081.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-124X.2007.00081.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1749-124X.2007.00081.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dani Rodrik, 2008. "Understanding South Africa's economic puzzles," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 16(4), pages 769-797, October.
    2. C. H. Kwan, 2002. "The Rise of China and Asia's Flying-Geese Pattern of Economic Development: An Empirical Analysis Based on US Import Statistics," Discussion papers 02009, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "What's So Special about China's Exports?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 14(5), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Peter K. Schott, 2006. "The Relative Sophistication of Chinese Exports," NBER Working Papers 12173, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Ricardo Hausmann & Jason Hwang & Dani Rodrik, 2007. "What you export matters," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, March.
    6. David Hummels & Peter J. Klenow, 2005. "The Variety and Quality of a Nation's Exports," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 704-723, June.
    7. Barry Naughton, 2007. "The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262640643, December.
    8. World Bank, 2006. "World Development Indicators 2006," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 8151, December.
    9. Ahmed Zoromé, 2007. "Concept of Offshore Financial Centers: In Search of an Operational Definition," IMF Working Papers 2007/087, International Monetary Fund.
    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. Jarreau, Joachim & Poncet, Sandra, 2012. "Export sophistication and economic growth: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 281-292.
    2. Zheng, Hong-Hao & Wang, Zheng-Xin, 2019. "Measurement and comparison of export sophistication of the new energy industry in 30 countries during 2000–2015," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 140-158.
    3. Shunli Yao, 2009. "Why Are Chinese Exports Not So Special?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 17(1), pages 47-65, January.
    4. Shunli Yao, 2010. "Is China’s Export Sophistication Really Special?," ARTNeT Policy Briefs 30, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
    5. Song Zhang & Chunlai Chen, 2020. "Does Outward Foreign Direct Investment Facilitate China's Export Upgrading?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 28(5), pages 64-89, September.

    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. Ari Van Assche & Byron Gangnes, 2010. "Electronics production upgrading: is China exceptional?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 477-482.
    2. Zhi Wang & Shang-Jin Wei, 2010. "What Accounts for the Rising Sophistication of China's Exports?," NBER Chapters, in: China's Growing Role in World Trade, pages 63-104, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Jarreau, Joachim & Poncet, Sandra, 2012. "Export sophistication and economic growth: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 281-292.
    4. Gideon Ndubuisi & Solomon Owusu, 2021. "How important is GVC participation to export upgrading?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(10), pages 2887-2908, October.
    5. Mary Amiti & Caroline Freund, 2010. "The Anatomy of China's Export Growth," NBER Chapters, in: China's Growing Role in World Trade, pages 35-56, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Huiying Zhang & Xiaohui Yang, 2016. "Intellectual Property Rights and Export Sophistication," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(03), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Li, Changqing & Lu, Jian, 2018. "R&D, financing constraints and export green-sophistication in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 234-244.
    8. Glawe, Linda & Wagner, Helmut, 2020. "China in the middle-income trap?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    9. Bruce A. Blonigen & Alyson C. Ma, 2019. "Please Pass the Catch-Up: The Relative Performance of Chinese and Foreign Firms in Chinese Exports," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 12, pages 401-445, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Van Assche, Ari & Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2018. "Functional upgrading in China's export processing sector," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 245-262.
    11. Roberto Álvarez & Sebastián Claro, 2006. "The china price: evidence and some implications," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 33(2 Year 20), pages 117-140, December.
    12. Zhang, Teng & Ouyang, Puman, 2018. "Is RMB appreciation a nightmare for the Chinese firms? An analysis on firm profitability and exchange rate," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 27-43.
    13. Zhi Wang & Shang-Jin Wei, 2008. "The Chinese Export Bundles - Patterns, Puzzles and Possible Explanations," Macroeconomics Working Papers 22275, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    14. Chen, Xikang & Cheng, Leonard K. & Fung, K.C. & Lau, Lawrence J. & Sung, Yun-Wing & Zhu, K. & Yang, C. & Pei, J. & Duan, Y., 2012. "Domestic value added and employment generated by Chinese exports: A quantitative estimation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 850-864.
    15. Sheng, Liugang & Yang, Dennis Tao, 2016. "Expanding export variety: The role of institutional reforms in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 45-58.
    16. Peilei Fan, 2011. "Innovation capacity and economic development: China and India," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 49-73, April.
    17. Gozgor, Giray & Can, Muhlis, 2016. "Does Export Product Quality Matter for CO2 Emissions? Evidence from China," MPRA Paper 71873, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Dennis, Allen & Shepherd, Ben, 2007. "Trade costs, barriers to entry, and export diversification in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4368, The World Bank.
    19. Byron Gangnes & Ari Van Assche, 2010. "Global Production Networks in Electronics and Intra-Asian Trade," Working Papers 201004, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    20. Kuroiwa, Ikuo, 2014. "Value added trade and structure of high-technology exports in China," IDE Discussion Papers 449, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).

    More about this item

    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:bla:chinae:v:15:y:2007:i:5:p:18-37. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwepacn.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.