IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cth/wpaper/gru_2019_005.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Credit and Fiscal Multipliers in China

Author

Listed:
  • Sophia Chen

    (International Monetary Fund)

  • Lev Ratnovski

    (European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund)

  • Pi-Han Tsai

    (Zhejiang University)

Abstract

We estimate credit and fiscal multipliers in China, using subnational political cycles as a source of exogenous variation. The tenure of the provincial party secretary, interacted with the credit and fiscal expenditure used in other provinces, instruments for provincial credit and government expenditure growth. We find a fiscal multiplier of 0.75 in 2001-2008, which increased to 1.2 in 2010-2015, consistent with higher multipliers in a slower economy. At the same time, a credit multiplier of 0.2 in 2001-2008 declined to close to zero in 2010-2015, consistent with credit saturation and credit misallocation. Our results suggest that credit expansion cannot further support economic growth in China. The flip side is that lower credit growth is also unlikely to disrupt output growth. Fiscal policy is powerful, and can cushion the macroeconomic adjustment to lower credit intensity.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophia Chen & Lev Ratnovski & Pi-Han Tsai, 2019. "Credit and Fiscal Multipliers in China," GRU Working Paper Series GRU_2019_005, City University of Hong Kong, Department of Economics and Finance, Global Research Unit.
    • Handle: RePEc:cth:wpaper:gru_2019_005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cb.cityu.edu.hk/ef/doc/GRU/WPS/GRU%232019-005%20Ratnovski.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chong-En Bai & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng (Michael) Song, 2016. "The Long Shadow of China’s Fiscal Expansion," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 47(2 (Fall)), pages 129-181.
    2. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    3. Feng, Xunan & Johansson, Anders C., 2017. "Political Uncertainty and Innovation in China," Stockholm School of Economics Asia Working Paper Series 2017-44, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm China Economic Research Institute.
    4. Renfu Luo & Linxiu Zhang & Jikun Huang & Scott Rozelle, 2010. "Village Elections, Public Goods Investments and Pork Barrel Politics, Chinese-style," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(4), pages 662-684.
    5. Claudio Borio & Enisse Kharroubi & Christian Upper & Fabrizio Zampolli, 2016. "Labour reallocation and productivity dynamics: financial causes, real consequences," BIS Working Papers 534, Bank for International Settlements.
    6. Olivier J. Blanchard & Daniel Leigh, 2013. "Growth Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 117-120, May.
    7. Jing Jin & Chunli Shen & Qian Wang & Heng-fu Zou, 2012. "Decentralization in China," CEMA Working Papers 546, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    8. Pi-Han Tsai, 2016. "Fiscal incentives and political budget cycles in China," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(6), pages 1030-1073, December.
    9. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413.
    10. Ben S. Bernanke & Mark Gertler, 1995. "Inside the Black Box: The Credit Channel of Monetary Policy Transmission," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 27-48, Fall.
    11. Jin, Hehui & Qian, Yingyi & Weingast, Barry R., 2005. "Regional decentralization and fiscal incentives: Federalism, Chinese style," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1719-1742, September.
    12. Chunli Shen & Jing Jin & Heng-fu Zou, 2012. "Fiscal Decentralization in China: History, Impact, Challenges and Next Steps," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 13(1), pages 1-51, May.
    13. Alan J. Auerbach & Yuriy Gorodnichenko, 2012. "Fiscal Multipliers in Recession and Expansion," NBER Chapters, in: Fiscal Policy after the Financial Crisis, pages 63-98, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. 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.
    15. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark, 1989. "Agency Costs, Net Worth, and Business Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 14-31, March.
    16. Emi Nakamura & J?n Steinsson, 2014. "Fiscal Stimulus in a Monetary Union: Evidence from US Regions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(3), pages 753-792, March.
    17. Lee, David S., 2008. "Randomized experiments from non-random selection in U.S. House elections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 675-697, February.
    18. World Bank, 2019. "Finance in Transition," World Bank Publications - Reports 33075, The World Bank Group.
    19. 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.
    20. Mr. Antonio Spilimbergo & Mr. Martin Schindler & Mr. Steven A. Symansky, 2009. "Fiscal Multipliers," IMF Staff Position Notes 2009/011, International Monetary Fund.
    21. Haltenhof, Samuel & Jung Lee, Seung & Stebunovs, Viktors, 2014. "The credit crunch and fall in employment during the Great Recession," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 31-57.
    22. Chong-En Bai & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng Michael Song, 2016. "The Long Shadow of a Fiscal Expansion," NBER Working Papers 22801, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. An, Heng & Chen, Yanyan & Luo, Danglun & Zhang, Ting, 2016. "Political uncertainty and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 174-189.
    24. Dong He & Zhiwei Zhang & Wenlang Zhang, 2009. "How Large Will Be The Effect Of China'S Fiscal Stimulus Package On Output And Employment?," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(5), pages 730-744, December.
    25. Ms. Anja Baum & Mr. Marcos Poplawski Ribeiro & Miss Anke Weber, 2012. "Fiscal Multipliers and the State of the Economy," IMF Working Papers 2012/286, International Monetary Fund.
    26. Christine Wong, 2011. "The Fiscal Stimulus Programme and Public Governance Issues in China," OECD Journal on Budgeting, OECD Publishing, vol. 11(3), pages 1-22.
    27. Chong-En Bai & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng (Michael) Song, 2016. "The Long Shadow of China’s Fiscal Expansion," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 47(2 (Fall)), pages 129-181.
    28. Guo, Qingwang & Liu, Chang & Ma, Guangrong, 2016. "How large is the local fiscal multiplier? Evidence from Chinese counties," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 343-352.
    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. Pi‐Han Tsai & Yongzheng Liu & Xin Liu, 2021. "Collusion, political connection, and tax avoidance in China," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 417-441, August.
    2. Jungsuk Kim & Mengxi Wang & Donghyun Park & Cynthia Castillejos Petalcorin, 2021. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: some evidence from China," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(3), pages 555-582, August.
    3. 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.
    4. Mr. Lev Ratnovski & Sophia Chen & Pi-Han Tsai, 2017. "Credit and Fiscal Multipliers in China," IMF Working Papers 2017/273, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Khan, Haider & Szymanski-Burgos, Adam, 2021. "Modeling the Social Economy of Pandemics in China: An Input-Output Approach," MPRA Paper 109021, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. 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.
    7. Li, Rong & Zhou, Yijiang, 2021. "Estimating local fiscal multipliers using political connections," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Lawson, Jeremy & Watt, Abigail & Martinez, Carolina & Fu, Rong, 2019. "Chinese Financial Conditions and their Spillovers to the Global Economy and Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 14065, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Khan, Haider, 2023. "Socialism or Barbarism in the 21st Century? China vs. Global North during Capitalist (COVID) Crisis, Inequality and Poverty," MPRA Paper 117227, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Chen, Sophia & Ratnovski, Lev & Tsai, Pi-Han, 2019. "Credit and fiscal multipliers in China," BOFIT Discussion Papers 5/2019, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    11. Guangdong Xu & Binwei Gui, 2021. "The non‐linearity between finance and economic growth: a literature review and evidence from China," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 35(1), pages 3-18, May.
    12. Debuque-Gonzales, Margarita, 2021. "Local fiscal multipliers and spillover effects: Evidence from Philippine regions," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    13. repec:zbw:bofitp:2019_005 is not listed on IDEAS

    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. repec:zbw:bofitp:2019_005 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Chen, Sophia & Ratnovski, Lev & Tsai, Pi-Han, 2019. "Credit and fiscal multipliers in China," BOFIT Discussion Papers 5/2019, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    3. Chen, Sophia & Ratnovski, Lev & Tsai, Pi-Han, 2021. "Credit and fiscal multipliers in China: Evidence from a political economy based estimation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    4. Dechun Liu & Xinye Zheng & Yihua Yu, 2022. "Public Debt Competition in Local China: Evidence and Mechanism of Spatial Interactions," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(S2), pages 91-105, November.
    5. Gyourko, Joseph & Shen, Yang & Wu, Jing & Zhang, Rongjie, 2022. "Land finance in China: Analysis and review," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Henderson, J. Vernon & Su, Dongling & Zhang, Qinghua & Zheng, Siqi, 2022. "Political manipulation of urban land markets: Evidence from China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Pi-Han Tsai, 2016. "Fiscal incentives and political budget cycles in China," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(6), pages 1030-1073, December.
    9. Yunyang Ji & Xiaoxin Guo & Shihu Zhong & Lina Wu, 2020. "Land Financialization, Uncoordinated Development of Population Urbanization and Land Urbanization, and Economic Growth: Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, November.
    10. Wang, Jiaxin & Huang, Xiang & Gu, Qiankun & Song, Zilong & Sun, Ruiyi, 2023. "How does fintech affect bank risk? A perspective based on financialized transfer of government implicit debt risk," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    11. Xi, Tianyang & Yao, Yang & Zhang, Muyang, 2018. "Capability and opportunism: Evidence from city officials in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 1046-1061.
    12. Cong Yu & Linke Hou & Yuxia Lyu & Qi Zhang, 2022. "Political competition, spatial interactions, and default risk of local government debts in China," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(3), pages 717-743, June.
    13. Wang, He & Yao, Yang & Zhou, Yue, 2022. "Markets price politicians: Evidence from China’s municipal bond markets," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    14. Chen, Zhuo & He, Zhiguo & Liu, Chun, 2020. "The financing of local government in China: Stimulus loan wanes and shadow banking waxes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 42-71.
    15. Ricardo Félix & Gabriela Castro & José Maria & Paulo Júlio, 2013. "Fiscal Multipliers in a Small Euro Area Economy: How Big Can They Get in Crisis Times?," EcoMod2013 5307, EcoMod.
    16. 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.
    17. Cheng, Yudan & Jia, Shanghui & Meng, Huan, 2022. "Fiscal policy choices of local governments in China: Land finance or local government debt?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 294-308.
    18. Andrea De Meo & Lorenzo Ferrari, 2018. "Political Turnover and the Performance of Local Public Enterprises," CEIS Research Paper 438, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 08 Aug 2018.
    19. Chen, Xiaodong & Mi, Haoming & Zhou, Peng, 2023. "Whether to decentralize and how to decentralize? The optimal fiscal federalism in an endogenous growth model," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2023/11, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    20. Petra Persson & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2016. "The Limits of Career Concerns in Federalism: Evidence from China," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 338-374.
    21. Dell'Erba, Salvatore & Koloskova, Ksenia & Poplawski-Ribeiro, Marcos, 2018. "Medium-term fiscal multipliers during protracted economic contractions," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 35-52.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Credit Growth; Fiscal Stimulus; Macroprudential Policy; Multipliers; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

    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:cth:wpaper:gru_2019_005. 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: GRU (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decithk.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.