| Description |
This dissertation explores the growth mechanisms and regional development patterns of the Chinese economy during the period of 1997 to 2015 through the prism of labor productivity growth and its sectoral components. Chapter 1 studies China's economic structure and structural change across 31 provinces and 9 sectors. Methodologically, the empirical analysis is based on decompositions of aggregate labor productivity growth into its sectoral components. It indicates that China's economic growth was mainly driven by the within-sector effect, rather than the labor reallocation effect. The decomposition results of labor productivity growth by sectors within regions at the provincial level provide a reliable foundation to further investigate sources of economic growth and economic convergence in the following chapters. Chapter 2 explores the determinants of labor productivity growth and its components. Its objective is to improve our understanding of sources of economic growth in China with a strong focus on globalization and industrialization. Empirical results are based on panel data analysis. The estimation addresses issues of serial correlation, cross-sectional dependence, and heteroskedasticity. It concludes that trade openness and inward foreign direct investment have had positive effects on the manufacturing and service sectors. The manufacturing sector has demonstrated a spillover effect on the service and agricultural sectors. Moreover, trade openness has not contributed significantly to productivity growth in the agricultural sector. iv Chapter 3 studies labor productivity convergence and its components in China at both the aggregate and provincial levels across sectors. Because regional disparity has accompanied China's rapid economic growth, this research aims to understand which sectors have demonstrated a stronger conditional convergence effect that could potentially make the poorer inland provinces grow faster compared to the richer coastal provinces. Panel regressions show that trade openness following China's membership in the World Trade Organization in 2001 immediately caused a dramatic structural change in all sectors within the country's aggregate and regional economies. Therefore, by removing these deviations from the baseline in the period of 2002 to 2003, the manufacturing and highly regulated modern service sectors become suitable catalysts to reduce regional dispersion. |
