IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v40y2022i1p138-161.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Local industrial policy and productivity: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Jingjing Chen
  • Han Feng
  • Hong Zhou

Abstract

Subnational governments played key roles in China's past rapid growth, and local industrial policy was among their most frequently used tools. Using a plausible comprehensive local industrial policies variable constructed using local Five‐Year Plans and a comprehensive dataset of all medium and large firms in China between 1998 and 2013, this paper attempts to understand whether such interventions are helpful for China's growth. Our results indicate that although local industrial policies attract more low productivity firms, they do achieve their purpose of improving the productivity of the targeted sectors, at firm and city levels, especially in the long run.

Suggested Citation

  • Jingjing Chen & Han Feng & Hong Zhou, 2022. "Local industrial policy and productivity: Evidence from China," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 138-161, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:40:y:2022:i:1:p:138-161
    DOI: 10.1111/coep.12555
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.12555
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/coep.12555?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. 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..
    2. Mario Coccia, 2018. "Optimization in R&D intensity and tax on corporate profits for supporting labor productivity of nations," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 792-814, June.
    3. Simon Alder & Lin Shao & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2016. "Economic reforms and industrial policy in a panel of Chinese cities," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 305-349, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Cerqua, Augusto & Pellegrini, Guido, 2014. "Do subsidies to private capital boost firms' growth? A multiple regression discontinuity design approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 114-126.
    6. Zheng, Siqi & Sun, Weizeng & Wu, Jianfeng & Kahn, Matthew E., 2017. "The birth of edge cities in China: Measuring the effects of industrial parks policy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 80-103.
    7. Jia Barwick, Panle & Kalouptsidi, Myrto & Zahur, Nahim, 2019. "China's Industrial Policy: an Empirical Evaluation," CEPR Discussion Papers 13889, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Barbieri, Elisa & Di Tommaso, Marco R. & Bonnini, Stefano, 2012. "Industrial development policies and performances in Southern China: Beyond the specialised industrial cluster program," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 613-625.
    9. Shunfeng Song & Chengsi Wang & Jianghuai Zheng, 2012. "Industrial Upgrade, Employment Shock, And Land Centralization In China," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 30(4), pages 523-532, October.
    10. 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.
    11. Howell, Anthony, 2017. "Picking ‘winners' in China: Do subsidies matter for indigenous innovation and firm productivity?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 154-165.
    12. Peter Nolan, 2014. "Globalisation and Industrial Policy: The Case of China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(6), pages 747-764, June.
    13. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    14. Enrico Moretti, 2014. "Local Economic Development, Agglomeration Economies, and the Big Push: 100 Years of Evidence from the Tennessee Valley Authority," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 129(1), pages 275-331.
    15. Tigabu Degu Getahun & Espen Villanger, 2019. "Active Private Sector Development Policies Revisited: Impacts of the Ethiopian Industrial Cluster Policy," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(7), pages 1548-1564, July.
    16. Bernini, Cristina & Cerqua, Augusto & Pellegrini, Guido, 2017. "Public subsidies, TFP and efficiency: A tale of complex relationships," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 751-767.
    17. Henning Klodt, 2000. "Industrial Policy and the East German Productivity Puzzle," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(3), pages 315-333, August.
    18. Brandt, Loren & Van Biesebroeck, Johannes & Zhang, Yifan, 2014. "Challenges of working with the Chinese NBS firm-level data," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 339-352.
    19. Chaurey, Ritam, 2017. "Location-based tax incentives: Evidence from India," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 101-120.
    20. Deming Luo & Yanjun Liu & Yiyun Wu & Xiwei Zhu & Xiangrong Jin, 2015. "Does development zone have spillover effect in China?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 489-516, July.
    21. Pi‐Han Tsai & Chien‐Yu Huang & Tsun‐Feng Chiang, 2020. "Fiscal Expenditure And Industrial Land Price In China: Theory And Evidence," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(4), pages 593-606, October.
    22. Philippe Aghion & Julian Boulanger & Elie Cohen, 2011. "Rethinking industrial policy," Policy Briefs 566, Bruegel.
    23. Zheng, Guo & Barbieri, Elisa & Di Tommaso, Marco R. & Zhang, Lei, 2016. "Development zones and local economic growth: zooming in on the Chinese case," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 238-249.
    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. Yanyang Yan & Juan Wang & Sijia Qiao, 2022. "Effects of Industrial Policy on Firms’ Innovation Outputs: Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, 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. Jia, Junxue & Ma, Guangrong & Qin, Cong & Wang, Liyan, 2020. "Place-based policies, state-led industrialisation, and regional development: Evidence from China's Great Western Development Programme," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    2. Nathaniel Lane, 2020. "The New Empirics of Industrial Policy," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 209-234, June.
    3. Zhao, Chuanmin & Xie, Rui & Ma, Chunbo & Han, Feng, 2022. "Understanding the haze pollution effects of China's development zone program," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    4. Giuseppe Albanese & Guido de Blasio & Andrea Locatelli, 2021. "Does EU regional policy promote local TFP growth? Evidence from the Italian Mezzogiorno," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(2), pages 327-348, April.
    5. Gao, Ming & Gu, Qiankun & He, Shijun, 2022. "Place-based policies, administrative hierarchy, and city growth: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    6. Zheng, Liang, 2021. "Job creation or job relocation? Identifying the impact of China's special economic zones on local employment and industrial agglomeration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    7. Stephan Heblich & Marlon Seror & Hao Xu & Yanos Zylberberg, 2019. "Industrial clusters in the long run: evidence from Million-Rouble plants in China," CESifo Working Paper Series 7682, CESifo.
    8. Stefaan Decramer & Stijn Vanormelingen, 2016. "The effectiveness of investment subsidies: evidence from a regression discontinuity design," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1007-1032, December.
    9. Bin Wu & Xuefei Xu & Zhenzhong Feng, 2018. "Investment Promotion, Fiscal Competition and Economic Growth Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, January.
    10. Brachert, Matthias & Dettmann, Eva & Titze, Mirko, 2019. "The regional effects of a place-based policy – Causal evidence from Germany," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Sun, Yajie & Liao, Wen-Chi, 2021. "Resource-Exhausted City Transition to continue industrial development," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Dettmann, Eva & Weyh, Antje & Titze, Mirko, 2017. "Who benefits from GRW? Heterogeneous effects of investment subsidies in Saxony Anhalt," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168158, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Zheng, Shilin & Li, Zhaochen, 2020. "Pilot governance and the rise of China's innovation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    15. Neumark, David & Simpson, Helen, 2015. "Place-Based Policies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1197-1287, Elsevier.
    16. Mayneris, Florian & Poncet, Sandra & Zhang, Tao, 2018. "Improving or disappearing: Firm-level adjustments to minimum wages in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 20-42.
    17. Chen, Yenn-Ru & Jiang, Xiaoquan & Weng, Chia-Hsiang, 2020. "Can government industrial policy enhance corporate bidding? The evidence of China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Loren Brandt & Feitao Jiang & Yao Luo & Yingjun Su, 2022. "Ownership and Productivity in Vertically Integrated Firms: Evidence from the Chinese Steel Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(1), pages 101-115, March.
    19. Alexandre, Fernando & Chaves, Miguel & Portela, Miguel, 2022. "Investment Grants and Firms' Productivity: How Effective Is a Grant Booster Shot?," IZA Discussion Papers 15779, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Eva Dettmann & Matthias Brachert & Mirko Titze, 2016. "Identifying the Effects of Place-Based Policies - Causal Evidence from Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 5901, CESifo.

    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:coecpo:v:40:y:2022:i:1:p:138-161. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    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/weaaaea.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.