IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/bofitp/280407.html

Where has all the dynamism gone? Productivity growth in China's manufacturing sector, 1998-2013

Author

Listed:
  • Brandt, Loren
  • Van Biesebroeck, Johannes
  • Wang, Luhang
  • Zhang, Yifan

Abstract

China's manufacturing sector has been a key source of the economy's dynamism. Analysis after 2007 however is hampered by problems in the key data source for empirical analysis, the National Bureau of Statistics' (NBS) annual survey of industrial firms. Issues include missing information on value added and intermediate inputs, and concerns of over-reporting. The annual survey of firms conducted by China's State Taxation Administration (STA) provides a reliable, alternative source of firm-level data for years from 2007 to 2013. Since the sample is not representative and the precise sampling scheme is not known, the data cannot be used directly to draw inferences on China's manufacturing sector. By comparing the joint distribution of key variables for which both surveys provide reasonably reliable information, we recover the sampling scheme of the STA survey and use it to simulate samples for 2007 to 2013 that are comparable to the NBS sample in earlier years. Our estimates reveal a marked slowdown in revenue-based total factor productivity growth that cuts across all industries, ownership types, and regions. The loss of dynamism in the private sector, and the reduced contribution of firm entry to aggregate productivity growth are especially prominent.

Suggested Citation

  • Brandt, Loren & Van Biesebroeck, Johannes & Wang, Luhang & Zhang, Yifan, 2023. "Where has all the dynamism gone? Productivity growth in China's manufacturing sector, 1998-2013," BOFIT Discussion Papers 6/2023, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bofitp:280407
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/280407/1/1871817358.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Loren Brandt & Johannes Van Biesebroeck & Luhang Wang & Yifan Zhang, 2019. "WTO Accession and Performance of Chinese Manufacturing Firms: Corrigendum," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(4), pages 1616-1621, April.
    2. Ryan A. Decker & John Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2020. "Changing Business Dynamism and Productivity: Shocks versus Responsiveness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(12), pages 3952-3990, December.
    3. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng (Michael) Song, 2015. "Grasp the Large, Let Go of the Small: The Transformation of the State Sector in China," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 50(1 (Spring), pages 295-366.
    4. Brandt, Loren & Lim, Kevin, 2024. "Opening up in the 21st century: A quantitative accounting of Chinese export growth," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. Danial Lashkari & Jeremy Pearce, 2024. "The Mysterious Slowdown in U.S. Manufacturing Productivity," Liberty Street Economics 20240711, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    6. Zhao Chen & Zhikuo Liu & Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato & Daniel Yi Xu, 2021. "Notching R&D Investment with Corporate Income Tax Cuts in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(7), pages 2065-2100, July.
    7. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng (Michael) Song, 2015. "Grasp the Large, Let Go of the Small: The Transformation of the State Sector in China," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 46(1 (Spring), pages 295-366.
    8. Shihe Fu & V Brian Viard & Peng Zhang, 2021. "Air Pollution and Manufacturing Firm Productivity: Nationwide Estimates for China [Management and shocks to worker productivity]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3241-3273.
    9. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    10. 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..
    11. Amit Gandhi & Salvador Navarro & David A. Rivers, 2020. "On the Identification of Gross Output Production Functions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(8), pages 2973-3016.
    12. 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.
    13. Yuyu Chen & Mitsuru Igami & Masayuki Sawada & Mo Xiao, 2021. "Privatization and productivity in China," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(4), pages 884-916, December.
    14. Hiau Looi Kee & Heiwai Tang, 2016. "Domestic Value Added in Exports: Theory and Firm Evidence from China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(6), pages 1402-1436, June.
    15. Wu, Howei & Lin, Jia & Wu, Ho-Mou, 2022. "Investigating the real effect of China’s patent surge: New evidence from firm-level patent quality data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 422-442.
    16. Toni M. Whited & Jake Zhao, 2021. "The Misallocation of Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(5), pages 2359-2407, October.
    17. Clement Imbert & Marlon Seror & Yifan Zhang & Yanos Zylberberg, 2022. "Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(6), pages 1885-1914, June.
    18. Chong-En Bai & Qiong Zhang, 2017. "Is the People's Republic of China's current slowdown a cyclical downturn or a long-term trend? A productivity-based analysis," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 29-46, January.
    19. Judith K. Hellerstein & Guido W. Imbens, 1999. "Imposing Moment Restrictions From Auxiliary Data By Weighting," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(1), pages 1-14, February.
    20. Brandt, Loren & Van Biesebroeck, Johannes & Zhang, Yifan, 2012. "Creative accounting or creative destruction? Firm-level productivity growth in Chinese manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 339-351.
    21. Harald Hau & Yi Huang & Gewei Wang, 2020. "Firm Response to Competitive Shocks: Evidence from China’s Minimum Wage Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(6), pages 2639-2671.
    22. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Zheng (Michael) Song, 2015. "Grasp the Large, Let Go of the Small: The Transformation of the State Sector in China," NBER Working Papers 21006, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Guojun He & Shaoda Wang & Bing Zhang, 2020. "Watering Down Environmental Regulation in China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2135-2185.
    24. Harberger, Arnold C, 1998. "A Vision of the Growth Process," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(1), pages 1-32, March.
    25. Zhao Chen & Xian Jiang & Zhikuo Liu & Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato & Daniel Yi Xu, 2023. "Tax Policy and Lumpy Investment Behaviour: Evidence from China’s VAT Reform," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(2), pages 634-674.
    26. John G. Fernald, 2015. "Productivity and Potential Output before, during, and after the Great Recession," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51.
    27. Yi Lu Jr. & Linhui Yu Jr., 2015. "Trade Liberalization and Markup Dispersion: Evidence from China's WTO Accession," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 221-253, October.
    28. Brandt, Loren & Li, Bingjing & Morrow, Peter M., 2021. "Processing trade and costs of incomplete liberalization: The case of China," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    29. 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.
    30. Min Zhu & Ms. Longmei Zhang & Daoju Peng, 2019. "China’s Productivity Convergence and Growth Potential—A Stocktaking and Sectoral Approach," IMF Working Papers 2019/263, International Monetary Fund.
    31. Miaojie Yu, 2015. "Processing Trade, Tariff Reductions and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Firms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(585), pages 943-988, June.
    32. Daniel Berkowitz & Hong Ma & Shuichiro Nishioka, 2017. "Recasting the Iron Rice Bowl: The Reform of China's State-Owned Enterprises," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(4), pages 735-747, July.
    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. Yu, Li & Zhao, Siyuan & Liu, Chen & Chen, Fenglan, 2025. "The acceleration and attenuation: Internet infrastructure and employment adjustment patterns," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 726-743.
    2. Chuantao Cui & Leona Shao-Zhi Li, 2024. "More but not better: Career incentives of local leaders and entrepreneurial entry in China," Working Papers 202417, University of Macau, Faculty of Business Administration.
    3. Lyu, Zhuoyang & Yu, Li & Liu, Chen & Ma, Tiemeng, 2024. "When temperatures matter: Extreme heat and labor share," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    4. Hiau Looi Kee & Enze Xie & Xu,Mingzhi, 2024. "Firm Linkages and Domestic Value Added in Exports : Moving up the Global Value Chains with High-Speed Railways," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10985, The World Bank.
    5. Chengri Ding & Xiangwei Sun, 2026. "City Institution and Firm Productivity: The Impact of the Administrative Ranks of Chinese Cities," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), June.
    6. Lian, Lili & Zhang, Jingyi, 2026. "Allocative implications of government investment in private sector," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    7. Liu, Guanchun & Wang, Qihong & Tao, Yunqing, 2024. "Does SASAC boost the innovation of state-owned enterprises?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    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. Pham, Hoang, 2023. "Trade reform, oligopsony, and labor market distortion: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    2. Berkowitz, Daniel & Nishioka, Shuichiro, 2024. "The growth of firms, markets and rents: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 383-399.
    3. Tang, Wei & Wang, Yuan & Wei, Haiqi, 2026. "FDI In, SOE Out: Understanding the reallocation effects of FDI liberalization in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    4. Fang, Jing & He, Hui & Li, Nan, 2020. "China's rising IQ (Innovation Quotient) and growth: Firm-level evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    5. Daniel Berkowitz, 2018. "Market Distortions and Labor Share Distributions: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms," Working Paper 6466, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh.
    6. He, Ming & Chen, Yang & van Marrewijk, Charles, 2021. "The effects of urban transformation on productivity spillovers in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 473-488.
    7. Daniel Berkowitz, 2020. "Declining Market Competition in China," Working Paper 6897, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh.
    8. Walheer, Barnabé & He, Ming, 2020. "Technical efficiency and technology gap of the manufacturing industry in China: Does firm ownership matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    9. Wu, Mingqin & Yu, Linhui & Zhang, Junsen, 2023. "Road expansion, allocative efficiency, and pro-competitive effect of transport infrastructure: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    10. Lu, Yangsiyu & Pless, Jacquelyn, 2026. "Greening to grow: Evidence from environmental regulation and industrial firm productivity in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    11. Wu, Yan & Heerink, Nico & Yu, Linhui, 2020. "Real estate boom and resource misallocation in manufacturing industries: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    12. Xie, Enze & Xu, Mingzhi & Yu, Miaojie, 2024. "Trade liberalization, labor market power, and misallocation across firms: Evidence from China's WTO accession," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    13. Torsten Heinrich & Jangho Yang & Shuanping Dai, 2020. "Growth, development, and structural change at the firm-level: The example of the PR China," Papers 2012.14503, arXiv.org.
    14. Tang, Le, 2022. "The dynamic demand for capital and labor: Evidence from Chinese industrial firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    15. Bai, Xue & Chatterjee, Arpita & Krishna, Kala & Ma, Hong, 2021. "Trade and minimum wages in general equilibrium: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    16. 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.
    17. Kaiji Chen & Haoyu Gao & Patrick Higgins & Daniel F. Waggoner & Tao Zha, 2023. "Monetary Stimulus amidst the Infrastructure Investment Spree: Evidence from China's Loan‐Level Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(2), pages 1147-1204, April.
    18. Chuantao Cui & Leona Shao-Zhi Li, 2019. "High-speed rail and inventory reduction: firm-level evidence from China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(25), pages 2715-2730, May.
    19. Ding, Sai & Kim, Minjoo & Zhang, Xiao, 2018. "Do firms care about investment opportunities? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 214-237.
    20. Zhengwen Liu & Hong Ma, 2021. "Input Trade Liberalization And Markup Distribution: Evidence From China," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 344-360, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology

    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:zbw:bofitp:280407. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bofitfi.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.