IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bir/birmec/13-03.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

State-Owned Enterprises, Exporting and Productivity in China: A Stochastic Dominance Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Elliott
  • Ying Zhou

Abstract

A popular explanation for China's rapid economic growth in recent years has been the dramatic increase in the number of private domestic and foreign-owned firms and a decline in the state-owned sector. However, recent evidence suggest that China's state-owned enterprise (SOEs) are in fact stronger than ever. In this paper we examine over 78,000 manufacturing firms between 2002 and 2006 to investigate the relationship between ownership structure and the degree of firm-level exposure to export markets and firm-level productivity. Using a conditional stochastic dominance approach we reveal that although our results largely adhere to prior expectations, the performance of state-owned enterprises differs markedly between those that export and those that supply the domestic market only. It appears that China's internationally focused SOEs have become formidable global competitors.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Elliott & Ying Zhou, 2013. "State-Owned Enterprises, Exporting and Productivity in China: A Stochastic Dominance Approach," Discussion Papers 13-03, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    • Handle: RePEc:bir:birmec:13-03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec.cal.bham.ac.uk/pdf/13-03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roberto Alvarez & Ricardo A. López, 2005. "Exporting and performance: evidence from Chilean plants," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(4), pages 1384-1400, November.
    2. Ciccone, Antonio & Hall, Robert E, 1996. "Productivity and the Density of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 54-70, March.
    3. Andrew B. Bernard & Jonathan Eaton & J. Bradford Jensen & Samuel Kortum, 2003. "Plants and Productivity in International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1268-1290, September.
    4. Cho, Young-Hyun & Linton, Oliver & Whang, Yoon-Jae, 2007. "Are there Monday effects in stock returns: A stochastic dominance approach," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 736-755, December.
    5. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen, 1995. "Exporters, Jobs, and Wages in U.S. Manufacturing: 1976-1987," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1995 Micr), pages 67-119.
    6. Levinsohn, James, 1993. "Testing the imports-as-market-discipline hypothesis," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1-2), pages 1-22, August.
    7. Oliver Linton & Esfandiar Maasoumi & Yoon-Jae Whang, 2005. "Consistent Testing for Stochastic Dominance under General Sampling Schemes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(3), pages 735-765.
    8. Bai, Chong-En & Li, David D. & Tao, Zhigang & Wang, Yijiang, 2000. "A Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 716-738, December.
    9. Rice, Patricia & Venables, Anthony J. & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2006. "Spatial determinants of productivity: Analysis for the regions of Great Britain," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 727-752, November.
    10. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "Exports and Productivity: A Survey of the Evidence from Firm Level Data," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 1, pages 3-41, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Dollar, David, 1990. "Economic Reform and Allocative Efficiency in China's State-Owned Industry," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(1), pages 89-105, October.
    12. Bottasso, Anna & Sembenelli, Alessandro, 2001. "Market power, productivity and the EU Single Market Program: Evidence from a panel of Italian firms," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 167-186, January.
    13. 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.
    14. Jefferson, Gary H. & Rawski, Thomas G. & Li, Wang & Yuxin, Zheng, 2000. "Ownership, Productivity Change, and Financial Performance in Chinese Industry," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 786-813, December.
    15. Woo Wing Thye & Hai Wen & Jin Yibiao & Fan Gang, 1994. "How Successful Has Chinese Enterprise Reform Been? Pitfalls in Opposite Biases and Focus," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 410-437, June.
    16. Esfandiar Maasoumi & Almas Heshmati, 2000. "Stochastic dominance amongst swedish income distributions," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 287-320.
    17. Nolan, Peter & Xiaoqiang, Wang, 1999. "Beyond privatization: Institutional innovation and growth in China's large state-owned enterprises," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 169-200, January.
    18. Gordon, Roger H & Li, Wei, 1991. "Chinese Enterprise Behavior under the Reforms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 202-206, May.
    19. Sourafel Girma & Richard Kneller & Mauro Pisu, 2005. "Exports versus FDI: An Empirical Test," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 141(2), pages 193-218, July.
    20. Jens M. Arnold & Katrin Hussinger, 2010. "Exports versus FDI in German Manufacturing: Firm Performance and Participation in International Markets," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 595-606, September.
    21. C. Cindy Fan & Allen J. Scott, 2003. "Industrial Agglomeration and Development: A Survey of Spatial Economic Issues in East Asia and a Statistical Analysis of Chinese Regions," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 79(3), pages 295-319, July.
    22. Xiaonan Sun & Junjie Hong, 2011. "Exports, Ownership and Firm Productivity: Evidence from China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34, pages 1199-1215, July.
    23. 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.
    24. Xin Meng & Frances Perkins, 1996. "Behavioural Differences among Chinese Firms - From the Perspective of Earnings Determination," Trade and Development 96/9, Australian National University, Department of Economics.
    25. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    26. Jefferson, Gary H. & Su, Jian, 2006. "Privatization and restructuring in China: Evidence from shareholding ownership, 1995-2001," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 146-166, March.
    27. Girma, Sourafel & Gorg, Holger & Strobl, Eric, 2004. "Exports, international investment, and plant performance: evidence from a non-parametric test," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 317-324, June.
    28. MacDonald, James M, 1994. "Does Import Competition Force Efficient Production?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(4), pages 721-727, November.
    29. Feng-Cheng Fu & Chu-Ping Vijverberg & Yong-Sheng Chen, 2008. "Productivity and efficiency of state-owned enterprises in China," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 249-259, June.
    30. Hay, Donald & Morris, Derek & Liu, Guy & Yao, Shujie, 1994. "Economic Reform and State-Owned Enterprises in China 1979-87," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288459.
    31. repec:lic:licosd:15104 is not listed on IDEAS
    32. Steinfeld,Edward S., 2000. "Forging Reform in China," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521778619, September.
    33. Delgado, Miguel A. & Farinas, Jose C. & Ruano, Sonia, 2002. "Firm productivity and export markets: a non-parametric approach," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 397-422, August.
    34. Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yimin & Zhao, Ronald, 2002. "Profitability and productivity of Chinese industrial firms: Measurement and ownership implications," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 65-88.
    35. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    36. Li, Wei, 1997. "The Impact of Economic Reform on the Performance of Chinese State Enterprises, 1980-1989," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(5), pages 1080-1106, October.
    37. Russell Davidson & Jean-Yves Duclos, 2000. "Statistical Inference for Stochastic Dominance and for the Measurement of Poverty and Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(6), pages 1435-1464, November.
    38. Bai, Chong-en & Li, David D. & Wang, Yijiang, 1997. "Enterprise Productivity and Efficiency: When Is Up Really Down?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 265-280, June.
    39. Aart Kraay, 2002. "Exports and Economic Performance: Evidence from a Panel of Chinese Enterprises," Chapters, in: Mary-Françoise Renard (ed.), China and its Regions, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    40. Jefferson, Gary H. & Rawski, Thomas G. & Zheng, Yuxin, 1996. "Chinese Industrial Productivity: Trends, Measurement Issues, and Recent Developments," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 146-180, October.
    41. Abadie A., 2002. "Bootstrap Tests for Distributional Treatment Effects in Instrumental Variable Models," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 97, pages 284-292, March.
    42. Head, Keith & Ries, John, 2003. "Heterogeneity and the FDI versus export decision of Japanese manufacturers," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 448-467, December.
    43. Bernard Fingleton, 2001. "Equilibrium and Economic Growth: Spatial Econometric Models and Simulations," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 117-147, February.
    44. Holz, Carsten A., 2002. "Long live China's state-owned enterprises: deflating the myth of poor financial performance," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 493-529.
    45. Kaur, Amarjot & Prakasa Rao, B.L.S. & Singh, Harshinder, 1994. "Testing for Second-Order Stochastic Dominance of Two Distributions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(5), pages 849-866, December.
    46. Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yimin & Zhao, Ronald, 2001. "Impact of Ownership and Competition on the Productivity of Chinese Enterprises," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 327-346, June.
    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. Elliott, Robert J.R. & Zhou, Ying, 2015. "Co-location and Spatial Wage Spillovers in China: The Role of Foreign Ownership and Trade," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 629-644.
    2. Lin, Eric S. & Lin, Chia-Ling & Lin, Hui-Lin & Hsiao, Yi-Chi, 2023. "Is downsizing a good strategy during the downturn? Evidence from Taiwanese manufacturing firms," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Karplus, Valerie J. & Geissmann, Thomas & Zhang, Da, 2021. "Institutional complexity, management practices, and firm productivity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    4. Shao, Yanmin & Shang, Yan, 2016. "Decisions of OFDI Engagement and Location for Heterogeneous Multinational firms: Evidence from Chinese firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 178-187.
    5. Li, Bin & Pan, Ailing & Xu, Lei & Liu, Xin & Qin, Shuqian, 2020. "Imprinting and peer effects in acquiring state ownership: Evidence from private firms in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    6. WAKASUGI Ryuhei & ZHANG Hongyong, 2015. "Impacts of the World Trade Organization on Chinese Exports," Discussion papers 15021, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    7. Maman Setiawan & Erni Tisnawati Sule, 2018. "Technical Efficiency and Its Determinants of the State-owned Enterprises in the Indonesian Manufacturing Industry," Working Papers in Economics and Development Studies (WoPEDS) 201802, Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University, revised Aug 2018.
    8. Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Yoshino, Naoyuki & Kim, Chul Ju & Mortha, Aline, 2019. "A Comprehensive Evaluation Framework on the Economic Performance of State-Owned Enterprises," ADBI Working Papers 949, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    9. Ryuhei Wakasugi & Hongyong Zhang, 2016. "Impacts of the WTO accession on Chinese exports," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 347-364, October.

    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. Jens M. Arnold & Katrin Hussinger, 2010. "Exports versus FDI in German Manufacturing: Firm Performance and Participation in International Markets," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 595-606, September.
    2. Cieslik, Andrzej & Ryan, Michael, 2009. "Firm heterogeneity, foreign market entry mode and ownership choice," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 213-218, August.
    3. Alessandro Borin & Michele Mancini, 2016. "Foreign direct investment and firm performance: an empirical analysis of Italian firms," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(4), pages 705-732, November.
    4. TANAKA Ayumu, 2011. "Multinationals in the Services and Manufacturing Sectors: A firm-level analysis using Japanese data," Discussion papers 11059, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Pinuccia Calia & Maria Ferrante, 2013. "How do firms combine different internationalisation modes? A multivariate probit approach," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(4), pages 663-696, December.
    6. Ayumu Tanaka, 2012. "Firm Productivity and Foreign Direct Investment in the Services Sector: A Firm-Level Analysis using Japanese Data," Discussion papers e-11-008, Graduate School of Economics Project Center, Kyoto University.
    7. Chen, Maggie Xiaoyang & Moore, Michael O., 2010. "Location decision of heterogeneous multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 188-199, March.
    8. Elhanan Helpman, 2006. "Trade, FDI, and the Organization of Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(3), pages 589-630, September.
    9. Flora Bellone & Patrick Musso & Lionel Nesta & Michel Quere, 2008. "The U-Shaped Productivity Dynamics of French Exporters," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 144(4), pages 636-659, December.
    10. Richard Harris & Qian Cher Li, 2007. "Learning-by-Exporting? Firm-Level Evidence for UK Manufacturing and Services Sectors," Working Papers 2007_22, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    11. Gattai, Valeria & Natale, Piergiovanna & Rossi, Francesca, 2023. "Board diversity and outward FDI: Evidence from europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    12. Philipp J.H. Schröder & Allan Sørensen, 2012. "Second thoughts on the exporter productivity premium," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(4), pages 1310-1331, November.
    13. repec:zbw:rwirep:0259 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Dilek Demirbas & Ila Patnaik & Ajay Shah, 2013. "Graduating to globalisation: a study of Southern multinationals," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(2), pages 242-259, November.
    15. Diana Alexandra Gonçalves Costa & Ana Teresa Cunha de Pinho Tavares Lehmann, 2015. "Performance Differences between Exporters and Non-Exporters: the Case of Portugal," FEP Working Papers 569, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    16. Michaela Trax, 2011. "Productivity and the Internationalization of Firms – Cross-border Acquisitions versus Greenfield Investments," Ruhr Economic Papers 0259, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    17. Maria Rosaria Ferrante & Marzia Freo, 2012. "The Total Factor Productivity Gap between Internationalised and Domestic Firms: Net Premium or Heterogeneity Effect?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(9), pages 1186-1214, September.
    18. Shao, Yanmin & Shang, Yan, 2016. "Decisions of OFDI Engagement and Location for Heterogeneous Multinational firms: Evidence from Chinese firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 178-187.
    19. DU, Julan & LU, Yi & TAO, Zhigang & YU, Linhui, 2012. "Do domestic and foreign exporters differ in learning by exporting? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 296-315.
    20. Apoorva Gupta & Ila Patnaik & Ajay Shah, 2018. "Exporting and firm performance: evidence from India," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(1), pages 83-104, December.
    21. Greenaway, David & Kneller, Richard, 2008. "Exporting, productivity and agglomeration," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 919-939, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Productivity; China; firm-level; State-owned enterprise; heterogeneity; stochastic dominance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • L3 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise
    • P3 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions
    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations

    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:bir:birmec:13-03. 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: Oleksandr Talavera (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/debhauk.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.