Total Factor Productivity Convergence in Developing Countries: Role of Technology Diffusion

In recent years, though total factor productivity (TFP) convergence phenomenon has gained tremendous importance yet further deliberations for identification of catalytic factors that can help developing countries to achieve their steady developmental paths, are under way. Against this backdrop, present study investigates the principal determinants of TFP convergence by employing data of 91 developing countries over the period 1960–2015 and with USA being the frontier country. In concordance with the existing literature, main focus remains on technology diffusion for the catch‐up process and is measured by means of trade openness (TO) and foreign direct investment (FDI) with introduction of their interaction terms. However, TFP is computed by incorporating the Growth Accounting Model while empirical results are drawn from the 2‐step GMM estimation technique. It is surfaced that though high degree of openness benefits TFP growth and convergence but FDI has a dominating role. Therefore, governments can play a competent role via unflagging efforts in ensuring that the right kind of policies are enacted, promoting trading activities and FDI flows.     

Manufacturing productivity in China and India: The role of institutional changes

In this paper we undertake a comparative study of productivity in the manufacturing sector for China and India using data from survey of manufacturing industries for the two countries. We find that productivity of manufacturing industries in China relative to that in India improved substantially over the 1998–2003 period. Specifically, the average total factor productivity (TFP) growth for the manufacturing sector over this period was about 11% higher in China than in India. We document two substantial changes in government policies in China that were not witnessed in India. First, the late 1990s saw an enormous wave of ownership restructuring due to the formal endorsement of private property rights by the Chinese central government. Second, in 1997 a large scale labour retrenchment program was launched to address the long standing problem of labour redundancy in the public sector. Using data from the Chinese survey of manufacturing industries, we quantify the impact of these large scale institutional changes on TFP of Chinese manufacturing industries. We find that these policy changes can explain about 30% of the growth in TFP of manufacturing industries. Hence we conclude that these institutional changes in China can account for a significant part of the gains in productivity of manufacturing industries in China relative to that in India over the 1998–2003 period.     

Banking in the Shadows: A Comparative Study of China and India

In recent years there has been increasing interest in the rise of shadow banking in China and India. In this paper, we aim to get a better understanding of the differences in trends and investigate the factors leading to the increase of shadow banking in these two major emerging economies. We find that financial exclusion is a common factor leading to the growth of shadow banking in both countries. While financial reform has taken place in India, financially repressive policies still prevail in China. Although several regulatory measures have been adopted in India and China, the size of the shadow banking sector in these two countries remains underestimated. Thus, streamlining and enhancing data collection is a key priority for both nations. We argue that regulation in both countries should be more activity focused (specific field in which a shadow bank is focused on) rather than sector or entity based, and it should be at par with banks. The shadow banks provide last mile connectivity to remote, distant, and ignored segments of the population not serviced by the formal financial sector. As this enhances financial inclusion, a balanced approach is required keeping in view both costs and benefits of the shadow banking system.     

Labor Market Dynamics and Structural Change: Evidence from China

Structural change theories usually assume agents are homogeneous. However, because of demand‐side or supply‐side heterogeneities, the probability of switching among sectors differs across people. This paper reveals these differences through restoring a long‐period, individual‐level panel dataset from China's Urban Household Survey for 1986–2009. We find that both for people who started working for the first time and those who switched jobs, the sector choice depends on personal characteristics. In particular, women and people with higher educational attainment or a previous white‐collar job are more likely to join the tertiary sector and less likely to join the primary sector. These effects are substantial even if the macroeconomic variables used in conventional structural change theories are controlled. They are also robust in various periods and at more detailed industry levels. Our research suggests that it is important to pay greater attention to the labor composition when making policy related to economic structural change.     

The Evolving Role of China and India in the Global Financial System

Three main features characterize the international financial integration of China and India. First, while only having a small global share of privately-held external assets and liabilities, these countries are large holders of official reserves. Second, their international balance sheets are highly asymmetric: both are “short equity, long debt.” Third, China and India have improved their net external positions over the last decade although neoclassical models would predict them to be net borrowers. We argue that domestic financial policies are key to understanding these patterns and the future role of China in the international financial system.

The Role of the Efficiency Gap for Spillovers from FDI: Evidence from the UK Electronics and Engineering Sectors

This paper focuses on the role of the efficiency gap in determining whether or not domestic firms benefit from productivity spillovers from FDI. We use establishment level data for the period 1980–1992 for the UK. Given that there is substantial heterogeneity of productivity across sectors we focus on two manufacturing sectors in detail, namely, electronics and engineering. We allow for different effects of FDI on establishments located at different quantiles of the productivity distribution by using conditional quantile regression. Overall, while there is some heterogeneity in results across sectors and quantiles, our findings clearly suggest that the efficiency gap matters for productivity spillover benefits. We find evidence for a u-shaped relationship between productivity growth and FDI interacted with the efficiency gap. We also analyse in some detail the impact of changes in relative efficiency on establishments’ ability to benefit from spillovers.     

The Impact of Research and Development on Economic Growth and Productivity in the U.S. States

Research and development (R&D) has a large effect on both state output and total factor productivity in the long run. Our estimates for the private sector of the U.S. states from 1963 to 2007 show that the R&D elasticity averages 0.056–0.143. The implied returns to state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from R&D spending are 82–211%. There are also positive R&D spillovers, with 70–80% of the total returns accruing to other states. We also find that states with more human capital have higher own‐ and other‐R&D elasticities, and those in lowest tier of economic development have the least own‐state R&D elasticity but the highest other‐R&D elasticity. In addition, we find that the positive effect of R&D spillovers across states is larger when we consider R&D spillovers across states based on economic similarity of R&D across sectors.     

崛起中的冲突与合作——中印两国关系新论

中印两国作为正在迅速崛起的发展中国家,虽然在不同层面上有着诸多共同利益,但不可避免地在一些领域里仍然存在着很大的矛盾和分歧,表现尤为突出的就是在领土、经贸以及战略等领域上。以客观务实的态度认识和把握现阶段的中印关系,以高瞻远瞩的姿态去正确处理两国间的利益冲突,积极推进双边关系的良性发展,建立长久友好的战略合作关系,符合双方各自的长远利益,符合周边地区的安全与稳定,符合＂和平＂与＂发展＂的时代主题。     

结构冲击与结构转换对中国地区差距变化的影响

中国各地之间存在显著的产业结构差异,但现有关于中国地区收入差距的文献多受新古典单部门增长模型的影响,忽视结构冲击与结构转换的作用。通过构造变量,本文将各地区的实际增长率分解为结构冲击、结构转换9生产率增长三部分,从而克服了以往研究之不足。研究发现,结构冲击在1978年-1990年缩小了地区差距,但1990年—2002年扩大了地区差距;结构转换在整个改革期间均缩小了地区差距,从而加快农业发展和中西部地区产业结构转换有助于改善中国的地区收入分配状况。     

Information Technology, Organizational Transformation and Productivity Growth: An Examination of the Brynjolfsson–Hitt Proposition

This study investigates what happened to productivity growth during the Information Technology (IT) revolution in an IT-driven economy, Korea. To this end, we have decomposed the source of productivity growth into technological change, technical efficiency and scale economies using a stochastic frontier function and examined how the composition of productivity growth has changed with different phases of IT developments. We have used panel data that is comprised of 4022 firms from 1996 to 2000. We have found that Korean firms have been quick to embrace organizational restructuring to adapt to a new business environment brought about by IT, which seems to be the major source of the success of Korean firms. We have also found that: (i) there is no substantial difference in productivity gains between IT-producing firms and IT-using firms; (ii) productivity growth is more robust to business cycles in an IT-driven economy than in the traditional economy; and (iii) efficiency improvement attributed to organizational transformation plays a greater role in productivity growth as IT applications become more widespread.     

东西部经济态势与民营经济发展差距的相关性

改革开放以来,我国东西差距不断扩大,即使在实施西部大开发之后,这种不断扩大的趋势也没有得到有效的扼制。就东西部经济发展态势与其民营经济发展差距的相关性进行实证分析,发现东西经济发展差距与民营经济发展差距呈强正相关性,从而证实了“东西差距的根本是民营经济发展的差距”的论断。     

中印投资环境比较研究及前景展望

本文分别从客观市场环境和政府营造环境两方面比较了中印现阶段的投资环境并对两国未来投资环境改进提出了具体建议。现阶段两国投资环境各有优劣,未来谁的投资环境更好取决于谁能更快更好地改革自己的不足。     

Trade Specialization in Latin America: The Impact of China and India

This paper examines the extent to which the growth of China and India in world markets is affecting the patterns of trade specialization in Latin American (LA) economies. We construct a measure of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) by 3-digit ISIC sector, country, and year. This RCA accounts for both imports and exports. The empirical analyses explore the correlation between the RCAs of LA and the two Asian economies. Econometric estimates suggest that the specialization pattern of LA—with the exception of Mexico—has been moving in opposite direction to the trade specialization pattern of China and India. Labor-intensive sectors (both unskilled and skilled) probably have been negatively affected by the growing presence of China and India in world markets, while natural resource and scientific knowledge intensive sectors have probably benefited from China and India’s growth since 1990. JEL no.  F10, F14     

中国地区工业绿色全要素生产率增长:——基于方向性距离函数的经验分析

结合方向性距离函数和跨期数据包络分析法,测度绿色全要素生产率增长时尽可能地避免了出现技术倒退结论。中国省份工业的经验分析表明:忽略非期望产出的全要素生产率增长被高估,并混淆了技术进步和技术效率变化的相对贡献;技术无效率普遍存在且省际差异和年际波动性大,但这与经济发展水平无关;绿色全要素生产率变化也存在省际差异和年际波动特点,其中技术进步是其增长的主要源泉,而技术效率恶化是其倒退的根本原因;绿色全要素生产率增长存在明显的倒U型趋势和趋同性,而且外资利用印证了"污染天堂"假说。     

Dealing with the Contagion： China and India in the Aftermath of the Subprime Meltdown

What began as a downturn in the US housing sector in the summer of 2007 had mushroomed into a global financial crisis by September 2008： the most severe since the 1930s. Developing countries, including China and India, at first seemingly sheltered from the worst of the turmoil, have not been immune to the contagion＇s spillover effects. What are China and India＇s precise vulnerabilities, and what can each do to better insulate their economies from the vagaries of global financial marker turmoil？ Equally important, what long-term strategies must each country adopt to make their economies more resilient to global market downturns？     

城乡固定资产投资差距变化与中国经济增长互动关系研究

以城乡固定资产投资差距变化为视角,利用1980—2010的年度统计数据对经济增长与城乡固定资产投资差距变化关系进行了研究,通过协整分析及Granger因果检验得出结论:经济增长无论在长期还是短期都是城乡固定资产投资差距变化的原因之一,而城乡固定资产投资差距变化仅对短期的经济增长产生影响。基于此,文章提出通过经济增长使偏离的城乡固定资产投资差距实现合理回归以及通过合理的城乡固定资产投资差距促进经济快速增长都可成为政策调控的着力点。     

The Future is in the Past: Projecting and Plotting the Potential Rate of Growth and Trajectory of the Structural Change of the Chinese Economy for the Next 20 Years

Based on the convergence hypothesis and referring to the experience of East Asian high‐performing economies from 1950 to 2010, this paper projects and plots the potential growth rate of the Chinese economy over the next 20 years. It predicts that the potential growth rate of per capita GDP adjusted by purchasing power parity averages at 6.02 percent from 2015 to 2035, while the potential GDP growth rate of 2015 would still be above 8 percent, which implies that the realized rate of growth has not reached its potential since 2012. Besides, based on the per capita GDP projected and on cross‐country comparison, the paper plots the trajectory of structural change of the Chinese economy from 2015 to 2035. The result shows that: (i) the value‐added share of primary industry will drop more rapidly than the employment share; (ii) the value‐added share of secondary industry will decline and employment share will present an inverted U shape whose turning point will probably come between 2020 and 2025; (iii) both the value‐added and employment share of tertiary industry will increase continuously.