IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/11947.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What's So Special about China's Exports?

Author

Listed:
  • Dani Rodrik

Abstract

Much more than comparative advantage and free markets have been at play in shaping China's export success. Government policies have helped nurture domestic capabilities in consumer electronics and other advanced areas that would most likely not have developed in their absence. As a result, China has ended up with an export basket that is significantly more sophisticated than what would be normally expected for a country at its income level. This has been an important determinant of China's rapid growth. What matters for China's future growth is not the volume of exports, but whether China will continue to latch on to higher-income products over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Dani Rodrik, 2006. "What's So Special about China's Exports?," NBER Working Papers 11947, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11947
    Note: ITI
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w11947.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ricardo Hausmann & Jason Hwang & Dani Rodrik, 2007. "What you export matters," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Jorg Mayer & Adrian Wood, 2001. "South Asia's Export Structure in a Comparative Perspective," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 5-29.
    3. Rodrik, Dani, 2004. "Industrial Policy for the Twenty-First Century," CEPR Discussion Papers 4767, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Hausmann, Ricardo & Rodrik, Dani, 2003. "Economic development as self-discovery," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 603-633, December.
    5. Mr. Eswar S Prasad, 2004. "China's Growth and Integration into the World Economy: Prospects and Challenges," IMF Occasional Papers 2004/006, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Dic Lo & Thomas M. H. Chan, 1998. "Machinery and China's nexus of foreign trade and economic growth," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(6), pages 733-749.
    Full references (including those not matched with items 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. Badibanga, Thaddee Mutumba & Diao, Xinshen & Roe, Terry L. & Somwaru, Agapi, 2008. "Dynamics of Structural Transformation: Understanding the Key Factors That Drive Innovative Activities in Selected Asian and African Countries," Bulletins 43890, University of Minnesota, Economic Development Center.
    2. 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.
    3. World Bank, 2006. "Fostering Higher Growth and Employment in the Kingdom of Morocco," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7114, December.
    4. World Bank, 2007. "Uganda - Moving Beyond Recovery : Investment and Behavior Change, For Growth, Volume 1. Summary and Recommendations," World Bank Publications - Reports 7576, The World Bank Group.
    5. Goya, Daniel, 2014. "Política industrial: Qué es, por qué es necesaria, y su pasado, presente y futuro en Chile [Industrial policy: What is it, why it is necessary, and its past, present and future in Chile]," MPRA Paper 64881, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "What’s So Special about China’s Exports?," Working Papers id:410, eSocialSciences.
    7. Badibanga, Thaddee & Diao, Xinshen & Roe, Terry & Somwaru, Agapi, 2009. "Dynamics of structural transformation: An empirical characterization in the case of China, Malaysia, and Ghana," IFPRI discussion papers 856, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Felipe Starosta de Waldemar, 2010. "How costly is rent-seeking to diversification: an empirical approach," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 10008, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    9. Andreas Reinstaller & Elisabeth Christen & Harald Oberhofer & Peter Reschenhofer, 2016. "Eine Analyse der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Österreichs im bilateralen Handel mit den USA (TTIP)," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58723, April.
    10. Lazzarini, Sérgio G., 2012. "Strategizing by the Government: Industrial Policy and Sustainable Competitive Advantage," Insper Working Papers wpe_289, Insper Working Paper, Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa.
    11. Iizuka, Michiko & Gebreeyesus, Mulu, 2012. "A systemic perspective in understanding the successful emergence of non-traditional exports: two cases from Africa and Latin America," MERIT Working Papers 2012-052, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    12. Jarreau, Joachim & Poncet, Sandra, 2012. "Export sophistication and economic growth: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 281-292.
    13. Robert Z. Lawrence & Lawrence Edward, 2010. "Do Developed and Developing Countries Compete Head to Head in High Tech?," Working Paper Series WP10-8, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    14. Elvira Uyarra & Jens Sörvik & Inger Midtkandal, 2014. "Inter-regional Collaboration in Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3). S3 Working Paper Series no 6/2014," JRC Research Reports JRC91963, Joint Research Centre.
    15. Tom Broekel & Lars Mewes, 2017. "Analyzing the impact of R&D policy on regional diversification," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1726, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2017.
    16. Figueiredo, Paulo N., 2016. "Evolution of the short-fiber technological trajectory in Brazil's pulp and paper industry: The role of firm-level innovative capability-building and indigenous institutions," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-14.
    17. 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.
    18. Pietrobelli, Carlo, 2019. "Modern industrial policy in Latin America: Lessons from cluster development policies," MERIT Working Papers 2019-031, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    19. Bennett, John & Estrin, Saul, 2007. "Informality as a Stepping Stone: Entrepreneurial Entry in a Developing Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 2950, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Sami Atallah & Ilina Srour, 2014. "The Emergence of Highly Sophisticated Lebanese Exports in the Absence of an Industrial Policy," Working Papers 876, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2014.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity

    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:nbr:nberwo:11947. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.