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Openness, Structural Factors, and Economic Growth across the Regions in China

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Openness, Economic Growth and Regional Disparities

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Abstract

In the analysis of this chapter, we decompose aggregate regional labor productivity growth in the Chinese regions into three mutually exclusive components: growth driven by structural shocks, growth driven by structural transformation, and growth driven by region-specific sectoral labor productivity increases. Our empirical results show that in the 1990s, the growth effect of structural transformation contributed to interregional labor productivity convergence across the Chinese regions while the growth effect of structural shocks worked against this convergence. We also find that both regional openness and regional human capital accumulation promote regional labor productivity growth, at least in the 1980s. Our empirical results also suggest that regional openness and regional human capital accumulation may affect regional labor productivity growth through different channels: the former is shown to promote overall regional labor productivity growth by contributing to its structural component while the latter is shown to promote overall regional labor productivity growth by contributing to the region-specific component.

The work contained in this chapter extends and complements two prior works of the author’s own, which were published respectively as Jiang, Yanqing (2010), “An Empirical Study of Structural Factors and Regional Growth in China,” Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, 8(4), 335–352, and Jiang, Yanqing (2011), “Structural Change and Growth in China under Economic Reforms: Patterns, Causes and Implications,” Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies, 23(1), 48–65.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For the completeness and self-containedness of this chapter, this and the following sections may incorporate relevant equations, expositions, as well as results originally presented in the author’s earlier works Jiang (2010, 2011).

  2. 2.

    Again, as in Jiang (2011), we do not cover the latest data since 2005 because the National Bureau of Statistics of China changed some of the statistical categories in 2005.

  3. 3.

    Here, the decomposition is done along the cross-section dimension, rather than along the time series dimension.

  4. 4.

    Owing to the small sample sizes, the single-period regressions in Table 10.3 do not generate very precise estimates. However, we can still draw useful conclusions from estimates that are significant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of International Finance and Commerce, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China, People’s Republic

    Yanqing Jiang

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  1. Yanqing Jiang
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Jiang, Y. (2014). Openness, Structural Factors, and Economic Growth across the Regions in China. In: Openness, Economic Growth and Regional Disparities. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40666-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40666-9_10

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-40665-2

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