IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/pacecr/v24y2019i3p416-446.html

Macroeconomic effects of government spending in China

Author

Listed:
  • Xin Wang
  • Yi Wen

Abstract

Government spending plays an important role in determining economic performances in China. Its macroeconomic effects are analysed in this paper. We show that government spending in China Granger‐causes output, consumption and investment booms as well as inflation, and has a multiplier larger than 1. The large multiplier effects are found not only in aggregated time‐series data but also in panel data at the provincial level. We also provide a theoretical model and Monte Carlo analysis to rationalize our empirical findings. Our theoretical and Monte Carlo analyses support the large multiplier found in China but also suggest that government spending is not necessarily a free lunch in spite of the large multiplier effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Xin Wang & Yi Wen, 2019. "Macroeconomic effects of government spending in China," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 416-446, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:pacecr:v:24:y:2019:i:3:p:416-446
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-0106.12242
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0106.12242
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1468-0106.12242?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Wen, 2020. "Political incentives and local government spending multiplier: Evidence for Chinese provinces (1978–2016)," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 59-71.
    2. Li, Mingyang & Niu, Linlin, 2021. "Faster fiscal stimulus and a higher government spending multiplier in China: Mixed-frequency identification with SVAR," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    3. Fei Guo & Isabel Kit-Ming Yan, 2021. "Fiscal Decentralization and Fiscal Multiplier in China," GRU Working Paper Series GRU_2021_026, City University of Hong Kong, Department of Economics and Finance, Global Research Unit.
    4. Asif Tariq & Aadil Amin & Masroor Ahmad, 2024. "Deciphering the non-linear nexus between government size and inflation in MENA countries: an application of dynamic-panel threshold model," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, December.
    5. He, Ying & Yu, Changhua, 2025. "Fiscal multipliers, sectoral heterogeneity and reallocation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Tang, Le, 2022. "The dynamic demand for capital and labor: Evidence from Chinese industrial firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    7. Guo, Shen & Liu, Lezheng & Zhao, Yan, 2015. "The business cycle implications of land financing in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 225-237.
    8. Liu, Ding & Sun, Weihong & Chang, Long, 2021. "Monetary–fiscal policy regime and macroeconomic dynamics in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 121-135.
    9. Burdekin, Richard C.K. & Weidenmier, Marc D., 2015. "Assessing the impact of the Chinese stimulus package at home and abroad: A damp squib?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 137-162.
    10. Li, Rong & Zhou, Yijiang, 2021. "Estimating local fiscal multipliers using political connections," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    11. Wen Zhang, 2024. "The evolving international effects of China's government spending," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1851-1869, May.
    12. Peter Rangazas & Xiaobing Wang & Yuxiang Zou, 2022. "China's efficient urban bias," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 223-253, August.
    13. Yanying Zhang & Yiuman Tse & Gaiyan Zhang, 2022. "Return predictability between industries and the stock market in China," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 194-220, May.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    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:pacecr:v:24:y:2019:i:3:p:416-446. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1361-374X .

    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.