FDI,Export Sophistication,and Quality Upgrading: Evidence from China's WTO Accession

This paper identifies a positive effect of FDI liberalization on manufacturing export sophistication, exploiting China’s adjustment of its Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries upon its accession to WTO. It further investigates the underlying causes in the lines of firm ownership type, trade mode, product type, and intensive vs. extensive margins. The positive effect comes from, e.g., the increase in the export share of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) and firms with processing trade, and the increase in the export sophistication of privately-owned enterprises (POEs), of ordinary trade, and of intermediate goods. The intensive margin rather than extensive margin is accountable for the effect. Liberalizing FDI does not seem to have any significant effect on product quality.     

The Analysis of Rural Regional Disparity in China

Rural regional disparity has now become one of the most concerning problems in China. This paper attempts to show that the inequality is mainly caused by the uneven development of rural collectively owned enterprises (COEs). In the early 1990s, COEs accounted for more than 70% of rural regional inequality. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of current government policies for lessening regional disparity, we use a data envelopment analysis to measure the efficiency of COEs in the rural areas. The analysis shows that COEs in the eastern region are relatively more efficient than those in the central and western regions. To explain this, the potential sources of the COEs' production efficiency in different provinces are examined in detail. The production efficiency of Chinese COEs is found to be closely related to the employment of a shareholding cooperative system, foreign investment, skilled workers, and a bonus incentive scheme.     

The Transformation of Collectively Owned Enterprises and its Outcomes in China, 2001–05

Previous studies have primarily focused on the relative success of collectively owned enterprises (COEs) in China during the early years of reform, but they have ignored the agency problems inherent in this type of organizational form that may be an obstacle to further improving performance in a changing environment. Drawing on agency theory and the privatization literature, we argue that the transformed COEs in the ongoing organizational transformation process may achieve better performance by reducing agency costs. We examine a sample of COEs in Chinese manufacturing industries and track their ownership statuses from 2000 to 2005. Our findings reveal that the transformed firms achieved better performance than the traditional, untransformed COEs by mitigating agency problems.     

Institutions and FDI location choice: The role of cultural distances

Using an extensive data set on foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) in the Chinese mainland, we compare the sensitivities of the location choice of foreign direct investment (FDI) from six major source countries/areas (Hong Kong, Taiwan, US, EU, Japan and Korea) toward the variation in the strength of economic institutions across China's regions. It is found that FIEs from the source countries/areas that are culturally more remote from China often exhibit a stronger aversion to regions with weaker economic institutions. Moreover, this pattern is often more salient when FDI takes the form of fully-owned enterprises (FOEs) than when it takes the form of joint ventures (JVs).     

Knowledge capital,innovation, and growth in China

We study the relationship between industry-level investments in intangible knowledge capital (KC) and three key economic indicators in China. We find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that investments in KC are productivity-enhancing among domestically owned and foreign invested enterprises (FIEs). Consistent with other research, we find that China's KC generates new patents, but fewer than in major industrialized economies. Finally, we find that China's comparative advantage has shifted toward those sectors where domestic firms have made larger investments in KC, but this trend appears to be independent of the KC accumulated by FIEs.     

Competition in the Chinese market: Foreign firms and markups

This study addresses the issues of whether foreign firms outperform domestic firms in markups and whether the presence of foreign firms dampens the markup of their local counterparts in the Chinese market. Analysis of a firm-level panel dataset, we find foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs), particularly those not from Hong Kong–Macau–Taiwan, charging a higher markup. Estimations on the determinants of markups highlight the important roles played by technological capability and intangible assets. The potential channels and mechanisms are also discussed. Entering the Chinese market through joint ventures helps FIEs raise markups, and this effect is notable for HMT–FIEs, which might have a relative advantage of cultural proximity than other FIEs. Sharing equality with national capital to construct political connection (guanxi) also helps facilitate markups. Crucially, foreign presence is positively related to local firms’ markups, suggesting that the spillover and linkage effects dominate the competition pressure brought about by foreign direct investment.     

中国出口复杂度的测度与影响因素分析

本文采用1996～2006年期间细分至HS-10位数编码分类的商品贸易数据分别测度了中国产品层面和国家层面的出口复杂度,考察了不同投资贸易类型出口产品复杂度的演化趋势,并引入金融发展水平指标对我国国家层面出口复杂度的影响因素进行了实证分析。结果显示,1996～2006年间,我国出口产品结构虽然从行业层面而言是逐步改善与提升的,但加工贸易类出口产品的出口复杂度高于非加工贸易类出口产品的出口复杂度,并且国内投资的加工贸易产品为最主要的推动力;就1996～2006年而言,我国出口复杂度的主要推动因素仍为非熟练劳动力和价格,但价格主导的影响机制正逐渐向利率主导的影响机制转化。     

Does the Domestic Value Added Induced by China＇s Exports Really Belong to China？

Since 2001, the exports of foreign‐invested enterprises (FIEs) have accounted for more than 50 percent of China's total exports. As foreign capital occupies a high proportion of the total capital of FIEs, most FIEs' capital gains are foreign factor income. Although these gains are calculated as a part of China's GDP, they do not belong to China's national income. To determine the real contribution of exports to China's welfare, the present paper analyses the impact of exports on China's national income using a non‐competitive input–output model capturing processing trade. The results show that every US$1000 of China's exports generates US$506.8 of national income. The real contribution of exports to China's welfare is much smaller than what we expected. This suggests that China should endeavor to improve the gains from international markets or find another engine to maintain its economic growth.     

China's FDI and non-FDI economies and the sustainability of future high Chinese growth

This paper presents and assesses of the contribution of inward FDI to China's recent rapid economic growth using a two stage growth accounting approach. Recent econometric literature focuses on testing whether Chinese growth depends on inward FDI rather than measuring the contribution. Foreign Invested Enterprises (FIEs), often (but not exclusively) are joint ventures between foreign companies and Chinese enterprises, and can be thought of as forming a distinctive subpart of the Chinese economy. These enterprises account for over 50% of China's exports and 60% of China's imports. Their share in Chinese GDP has been over 20% in the last two years, but they employ only 3% of the workforce, since their average labor productivity exceeds that of Non-FIEs by around 9:1. Their production is more heavily for export rather than the domestic market because FIEs provide access to both distribution systems abroad and product design for export markets. Our decomposition results indicate that China's FIEs may have contributed over 40% of China's economic growth in 2003 and 2004, and without this inward FDI, China's overall GDP growth rate could have been around 3.4 percentage points lower. We suggest that the sustainability of both China' export and overall economic growth may be questionable if inward FDI plateaus in the future.     

One country, two systems: Foreign-invested enterprises and domestic firms in China

This paper shows that there is a dualist legal regime in China in that different bodies of laws and regulations apply to foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) from those that apply to domestic firms. In general, the legal and regulatory treatments of FIEs are superior to those that pertain to domestic firms, especially domestic private firms. The dualist nature of China's legal regime is designed to insulate the economy from full effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as to protect socialism.     

中国企业存在出口学习效应吗?——基于所有制结构角度的实证研究

本文从所有制结构的角度出发,对出口是否促进了我国制造业企业生产率的提高进行了细致研究。采用1998～2007年中国规模以上制造业企业调查数据,分别从企业所有制虚拟变量的角度,及不同所有制企业资本金密度的角度,对本文的研究问题进行了考察。不管是使用全要素生产率或劳动生产率,本文都得到稳健的结果:出口对于企业的生产率有显著的促进作用;国有企业和集体企业的生产率较低,但随着其资本金比率升高,企业的出口学习能力将进一步增强;私营企业的生产率较高,但其出口学习能力不显著;港澳台投资企业及外商投资企业本身生产率较高,但出口学习能力受到其自身所有制性质的抑制。     

Foreign direct investment, processing trade, and the sophistication of China's exports

China's export structure has shown a rapid shift towards more sophisticated industries. While some believe that this trend is a result of processing trade and foreign direct investment, the evidence is mixed. This paper examines variations in level of export sophistication across China's manufacturing industries. We find that an industry's level of export sophistication is positively related to the share of wholly foreign owned enterprises from OECD countries and the share of processing exports of foreign-invested enterprises, and negatively related to the share of processing exports of indigenous Chinese enterprises. Evidence from the relative export prices of Chinese goods, which measure within-product export sophistication, shows a similar pattern.     

加工贸易政策调整:政策信号与未来发展

近期有关加工贸易的政策调整相对比较频繁,这已引起了很多加工贸易企业的关注:政策调整信号如何理解?加工贸易未来的发展方向是什么?本文集中分析了加工贸易要不要发展,转型升级的障碍,以及未来政策调整的方向。本文认为,近期政策调整的信号可以概括为限制与发展,限制是为了更好的发展;无论是将加工贸易理解为保税监管的贸易形式,还是理解为国际生产分工的实现方式,当前阶段加工贸易发展的大格局不会改变。     

我国对美、欧、日货物出口对我国经济的影响分析

本文利用区分加工贸易的非竞争型投入产出模型,对比分析了2002年和2007年,中国分别向所有地区、美国、欧盟、日本和世界其他地区出口1000美元货物对中国增加值的拉动作用;并采用SDA等方法分析了这种拉动作用在地区间的区别和在时间上的变迁及其原因。分析发现,期间出口对增加值的拉动效率不断增加;出口结构虽不断升级,但却降低了出口对经济的拉动效率。分地区来看,中国对美国的出口对增加值的拉动效率最低,对世界其他地区的出口对增加值拉动效率最高。另外,一般贸易内部出口结构的变化是造成地区间出口拉动效率差异的主要原因。     

Natural resources and non-cooperative trade policy

When looking at the conditions of trade in natural resources the world appears upside down: tariff protection in natural resources sectors is generally lower than for overall merchandise trade, while export restrictions are twice as likely as in other sectors. On the other hand, tariff escalation is significant in natural resources sectors, where materials in their raw state face, on average, lower duties than in their processed form. In this paper, we discuss how export taxes and tariff escalation may be the result of an uncooperative trade policy. Specifically, tariff escalation and export taxes can be “beggar-thy-neighbor” policies because governments may be tempted to use them to alter the relative price of exports to their advantage (terms-of-trade effect) or to expand the domestic processing industry at the expenses of foreign production (production relocation effect). In equilibrium, these policies offset each other in a Prisoners’ Dilemma situation, where trade is inefficiently low.     

中日高科技密集商品贸易的比较优势分析

利用相对贸易优势指标（RTA）对中日50种高科技密集商品进行实证分析,可以看出,中日在高科技密集商品方面的比较优势差距尽管很大,但出现了缩小趋势,为了进一步提升中国高科技密集商品的国际竞争力,我们认为,必须抓住国际产业转移的时机,加大对国外先进技术的引进和吸收,增加技术投入,提高科学技术向生产转化程度.     

Processing trade,exchange rates and China's bilateral trade balances

This paper analyzes the role of processing trade in China's bilateral trade balances and the impact of the yuan's appreciation on China's processing trade. The analysis is based on panel data covering bilateral processing trade between China and its partners from 1993 to 2008. The empirical results show that: (1) processing trade accounted for 100% of China's annual trade surplus during the period; (2) China's processing trade showed a significant regional bias—77% of processing imports originated from East Asia while only 29% of processing exports was destined to the region in 2008; and (3) a real appreciation of the yuan would negatively affect both processing imports and exports—specifically, a 10% real appreciation of the yuan would reduce not only China's processing exports by 9.1% but also its processing imports by 5.0%. Based on these empirical findings we conclude that the combined effect of the yuan's appreciation on the balance of processing trade and thus China's overall trade balance will be limited.     

鄱阳湖生态经济区承接沿海地区加工贸易转移的现状和对策分析

随着东部沿海地区经济的快速发展,该区域的劳动力、土地等生产要素价格上升,迫使传统加工贸易产业向具有生产要素优势的中西部地区转移。文章分析了江西鄱阳湖生态经济区加工贸易的发展现状以及存在的问题。在此基础上,为江西鄱阳湖生态经济区更好地发展加工贸易提出了相关建议。     

俄乌冲突背景下中俄双边贸易变化及应对研究

利用 UN Comtrade 贸易统计数据运用国际贸易指数相关分析法，分析了中俄双边贸易发展现状、结构特征、贸易互补性（TCI）和贸易比较优势（RTA），并结合数据分析结果和当前俄乌冲突的背景，分析了欧俄双边贸易的变化对中俄贸易的影响。研究表明：中俄贸易呈现“产业间”优势互补特征；中国对俄罗斯具有出口比较优势的商品正逐渐由初加工向深加工转变；中俄两国在“皮革制品”、“鞋类”等商品具有较好的贸易基础和潜力，“机电类产品”的贸易前景广阔。     

How do Chinese industries benefit from FDI spillovers?

Recently, Foreign Invested Enterprises (FIEs) in China have increased their investment in not only production activity but also R&D activity. This paper examines the impact of spillovers from such activities by FIEs on two types of innovations by Chinese domestic firms: Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and invention patent application, using comprehensive industry and province-level data. We evaluate such spillovers according to FIEs' ownership structure, the origin of foreign funds and whether they are from the same industry or from other industries. We find an interesting asymmetry between spillovers to TFP and invention patent applications; while we do not find significant intra-industry spillovers from FIEs but find robust inter-industries spillover related to TFP, we find substantial intra-industry spillovers promoting invention patent applications but no evidence of inter-industries spillovers. Furthermore, whereas spillovers from FIEs to Chinese firms' TFP stem from their production activities, the source of spillovers related to invention patent applications is mostly through their R&D activity. Our findings indicate a need for multidimensional evaluation of the role of FDI in developing countries.