IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v79y2023icp727-745.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research on the efficiency of factor allocation in the pilot free trade zones

Author

Listed:
  • Feng, Wei
  • Sun, Shujun
  • Yuan, Hang

Abstract

How does the establishment of the pilot free trade zones (PFTZs), an institutional innovation, affect the efficiency of factor allocation? Extant literature focuses mainly on a qualitative analysis of factor allocation in PFTZs and neglects the role of data in PFTZs. Using data on 259 prefectures and cities in China over the period 2011 to 2019, we examine the impact of PFTZs on the efficiency of factor allocation. We find that the establishment of PFTZs can significantly reduce the mismatch between capital and labor factors and promote efficiency in digital factor allocation, which can be attributed to the channels for industrial rationalization and upgrading. Our results not only theoretically explore the impact of the establishment of PFTZs on the efficiency of factor allocation but have important implications for raising factor allocation in PFTZs especially in the era of the digital economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng, Wei & Sun, Shujun & Yuan, Hang, 2023. "Research on the efficiency of factor allocation in the pilot free trade zones," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 727-745.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:79:y:2023:i:c:p:727-745
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2023.06.041
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0313592623001637
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2023.06.041?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yao, Daqing & Whalley, John, 2015. "The Yuan and Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 30(4), pages 591-615.
    2. Feng, Wei & Li, Jiajia, 2021. "International technology spillovers and innovation quality: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 289-308.
    3. Manova, Kalina & Berthou, Antoine & Sandoz, Charlotte & Chung, John Jong-Hyun, 2019. "Trade, Productivity and (Mis)allocation," CEPR Discussion Papers 14203, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Chenxi Li & Kening Wu & Xiangyu Gao, 2020. "Manufacturing industry agglomeration and spatial clustering: Evidence from Hebei Province, China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 2941-2965, April.
    5. Tingru Zhao & Feng He, 2022. "Does the Pilot Free Trade Zone Promote the Quality of Urban Economic Growth: An Empirical Research Based on Quasi-Natural Experiment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-14, June.
    6. Pan, Wenrong & Xie, Tao & Wang, Zhuwang & Ma, Lisha, 2022. "Digital economy: An innovation driver for total factor productivity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 303-311.
    7. repec:bla:econom:v:38:y:1971:i:149:p:1-27 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Diego Restuccia & Richard Rogerson, 2017. "The Causes and Costs of Misallocation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 151-174, Summer.
    9. Zhang, Shangfeng & Zhu, Chun & Li, Xiujie & Yu, Xiuwen & Fang, Qi, 2022. "Sectoral heterogeneity, industrial structure transformation, and changes in total labor income share," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    10. Guanchun Liu & Yuanyuan Liu & Chengsi Zhang, 2018. "Factor allocation, economic growth and unbalanced regional development in China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9), pages 2439-2463, September.
    11. Douglas Z Zeng, 2021. "The Past, Present, and Future of Special Economic Zones and Their Impact," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 259-275.
    12. Rong, Shu & Liu, Kai & Huang, Si & Zhang, Qi, 2020. "FDI, labor market flexibility and employment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    13. Loren Brandt & Trevor Tombe & Xiadong Zhu, 2013. "Factor Market Distortions Across Time, Space, and Sectors in China," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(1), pages 39-58, January.
    14. Daqing Yao & John Whalley, 2016. "The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone: Background, Developments and Preliminary Assessment of Initial Impacts," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 2-15, January.
    15. Hao Chen & Bo Yuan & Qi Cui, 2021. "Does the pilot free trade zone policy attract the entering of foreign-invested enterprises? The evidence from China," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(14), pages 1162-1168, August.
    16. Jeremy T. Fox & Valérie Smeets, 2011. "Does Input Quality Drive Measured Differences In Firm Productivity?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 52(4), pages 961-989, November.
    17. Quan Li, 2021. "E-commerce, Free-Trade Zones, and the Linkage Effect to China’s Foreign Trade," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(6), pages 441-449, November.
    18. Jianxin Wu & Yanrui Wu & Bing Wang, 2018. "Local Government Debt, Factor Misallocation and Regional Economic Performance in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 26(4), pages 82-105, July.
    19. Kugler, Maurice, 2006. "Spillovers from foreign direct investment: Within or between industries?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 444-477, August.
    20. Luo, Kang & Liu, Yaobin & Chen, Pei-Fen & Zeng, Mingli, 2022. "Assessing the impact of digital economy on green development efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    21. Sissani Midoun & Bengana Ismail, 2018. "Digital and Free Trade Zones Impact on Malaysia's Economy and Its Prospects (2000 2018)," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(4), pages 39-44.
    22. Hao, Yu & Gai, Zhiqiang & Wu, Haitao, 2020. "How do resource misallocation and government corruption affect green total factor energy efficiency? Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    23. Wu, Ning & Liu, ZuanKuo, 2021. "Higher education development, technological innovation and industrial structure upgrade," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    24. Li, Sujuan & Liu, Jiaguo & Kong, Yudan, 2021. "Pilot free trade zones and Chinese port-listed companies performance: An empirical research based on quasi-natural experiment," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 125-137.
    25. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    26. Tao, Chang-Qi & Yi, Meng-Ying & Wang, Chang-Song, 2023. "Coupling coordination analysis and Spatiotemporal heterogeneity between data elements and green development in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-15.
    27. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2009. "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1403-1448.
    28. Dan O'Donoghue & Bill Gleave, 2004. "A Note on Methods for Measuring Industrial Agglomeration," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 419-427.
    29. Charles I. Jones & Christopher Tonetti, 2020. "Nonrivalry and the Economics of Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2819-2858, September.
    30. Violeta Sima & Ileana Georgiana Gheorghe & Jonel Subić & Dumitru Nancu, 2020. "Influences of the Industry 4.0 Revolution on the Human Capital Development and Consumer Behavior: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-28, May.
    31. Wan, Zheng & Zhang, Yang & Wang, Xuefeng & Chen, Jihong, 2014. "Policy and politics behind Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone Program," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-6.
    32. Wei Zhang & Siqi Zhao & Xiaoyu Wan & Yuan Yao, 2021. "Study on the effect of digital economy on high-quality economic development in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-27, September.
    33. Bing Ren & Hao Liang & Ying Zheng, 2012. "An Institutional Perspective and the Role of the State for Chinese OFDI," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Ilan Alon & Marc Fetscherin & Philippe Gugler (ed.), Chinese International Investments, chapter 1, pages 11-37, Palgrave Macmillan.
    34. Jiang, Yufan & Wang, Hongyan & Liu, Zuankuo, 2021. "The impact of the free trade zone on green total factor productivity ——evidence from the shanghai pilot free trade zone," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    35. Waqar Wadho, 2013. "Control rights, bureaucratic corruption and the allocation of resources," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 41-59, February.
    36. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    37. Loren Brandt & Trevor Tombe & Xiadong Zhu, 2013. "Factor Market Distortions Across Time, Space, and Sectors in China," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(1), pages 39-58, January.
    38. Kalim Siddiqui, 2015. "Trade Liberalization and Economic Development: A Critical Review," International Journal of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 228-247, July.
    39. Chen, Wanling & Hu, Yao & Liu, Bei & Wang, Hui & Zheng, Mingbo, 2022. "Does the establishment of Pilot Free Trade Test Zones promote the transformation and upgradation of trade patterns?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 114-128.
    40. Rulang Wang & Meng Wang & Lei Lyu, 2023. "Feasibility Study on the Financing of Oil Trade Warehouse Receipts in China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone Based on Digital Supervision," International Journal of Sciences, Office ijSciences, vol. 12(02), pages 1-6, February.
    41. Yuchan Wang, 2022. "Development of the Digital Economy: A Case Study of 5G Technology," Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organization, in: Vikas Kumar & Jiewu Leng & Victoria Akberdina & Evgeny Kuzmin (ed.), Digital Transformation in Industry, pages 215-225, Springer.
    42. Junius, Karsten, 1996. "Limits to industrial agglomeration," Kiel Working Papers 762, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    43. Dai, Xiaoyong & Cheng, Liwei, 2019. "Aggregate productivity losses from factor misallocation across Chinese manufacturing firms," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 30-41.
    44. Erdogan, Ayse M., 2014. "Bilateral trade and the environment: A general equilibrium model based on new trade theory," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 52-71.
    45. Zhang, Yanfang & Zhang, Ming & Liu, Yue & Nie, Rui, 2017. "Enterprise investment, local government intervention and coal overcapacity: The case of China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 162-169.
    46. Uwe Walz, 1997. "Innovation, Foreign Direct Investment and Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 64(253), pages 63-79, February.
    47. Karim, Sitara & Naz, Farah & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Vigne, Samuel A., 2022. "Is FinTech providing effective solutions to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in ASEAN countries?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 335-344.
    48. Zhang, Shangfeng & Chen, Congcong & Xu, Siwa & Xu, Bing, 2021. "Measurement of capital allocation efficiency in emerging economies: evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    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. Ge, Qian-Qian & Liu, Xi-Hua & Zhang, Yu-Chen & Liu, Shi-Qi, 2023. "Has China’s Free Trade Zone policy promoted the upgrading of service industry structure?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1171-1186.
    2. Ting Lei & Ping Xie, 2024. "Fostering Enterprise Innovation: The Impact of China’s Pilot Free Trade Zones," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 10412-10441, 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. Xu, Shiteng & Shen, Ronghua & Zhang, Yahua & Cai, Yifei, 2024. "Fostering regional innovation efficiency through pilot free trade zones: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 356-367.
    2. Qingshan Ma & Yuanmeng Zhang & Kexin Yang & Lingyun He, 2021. "Have China’s Pilot Free Trade Zones Improved Green Total Factor Productivity?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-20, November.
    3. Yuan Feng & Ying Li & Changfei Nie, 2023. "The Effect of Place-Based Policy on Urban Land Green Use Efficiency: Evidence from the Pilot Free-Trade Zone Establishment in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, March.
    4. Lenzu, Simone & Manaresi, Francesco, 2018. "Do Marginal Products Differ from User Costs? Micro-Level Evidence from Italian Firms," Working Papers 276, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    5. Wenya Cheng & John Morrow, 2018. "Firm Productivity Differences From Factor Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(1), pages 126-171, March.
    6. Ding, Sai & Jiang, Wei & Li, Shengyu & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2024. "Fiscal policy volatility and capital misallocation: Evidence from China," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    7. Li, Zhaohua & Pang, Suqin & Zhu, Zhiyun, 2024. "The impact of pilot free trade zones on entrepreneurship: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Laiqun Jin & Changwei Mo & Bochao Zhang & Bing Yu, 2018. "What Is the Focus of Structural Reform in China?—Comparison of the Factor Misallocation Degree within the Manufacturing Industry with a Unified Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    9. Simone Lenzu & Francesco Manaresi, 2019. "Sources and implications of resource misallocation: new evidence from firm-level marginal products and user costs," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 485, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    10. Guan, Chenghua & Huang, Jinyuan & Jiang, Ruyue & Xu, Wanting, 2023. "The impact of pilot free trade zone on service industry structure upgrading," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 472-491.
    11. Zheng Li & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2018. "Fiscal Decentralization and Interregional Capital Misallocation: Evidence from China," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1816, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    12. Ling-Yun He & Xiao-Feng Qi, 2021. "Resource Misallocation and Energy-Related Pollution," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-19, May.
    13. Liu, Shasha & Yin, Shanshan & Yin, Chuan & Sheng, Yan, 2021. "Does the price of natural resources affect firms’ total factor productivity? Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 37-50.
    14. Bei Wang & Hong Chen & Ruiqi Chen & Weiting Zeng & Lechuan Ye, 2023. "Does the Green Development of Cities Need High-Level Opening Up? A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on China’s Pilot Free Trade Zone," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, March.
    15. Li, Yutao & Zhang, Jinning & Lyu, Yanwei, 2023. "Does telecommunications infrastructure promote entrepreneurship in developing countries? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 106-119.
    16. Chen, Binkai & Lin, Justin Yifu, 2021. "Development strategy, resource misallocation and economic performance," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 612-634.
    17. Çağatay Bircan & Orkun Saka, 2021. "Lending Cycles and Real Outcomes: Costs of Political Misalignment," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(639), pages 2763-2796.
    18. Diego Restuccia & Richard Rogerson, 2017. "The Causes and Costs of Misallocation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 151-174, Summer.
    19. Daniel Berkowitz, 2020. "Declining Market Competition in China," Working Paper 6897, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh.
    20. Shawn Xiaoguang Chen & Yudan Cheng & Liutang Gong & Wenjia Tian, 2023. "A Big Push of Panda from the Ground: Land Subsidy and Structural Transformation in China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 23-09, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Data elements; Element allocation; Pilot free trade zone; Siphon effect;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D39 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Other
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    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:eee:ecanpo:v:79:y:2023:i:c:p:727-745. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    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.