Human capital, economic growth, and regional inequality in China

"We study the dispersion in rates of provincial economic- and TFP growth in China. Our results show that regional growth patterns can be understood as a function of several interrelated factors, which include investment in physical capital, human capital, and infrastructure capital; the infusio...

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Main Authors: Fleisher, Belton, Li, Haizheng, Zhao, Min Qiang
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Bonn 2007
IZA
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19180072124919082549-Human-capital,-economic-growth.htm
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author Fleisher, Belton
Li, Haizheng
Zhao, Min Qiang
author_facet Fleisher, Belton
Li, Haizheng
Zhao, Min Qiang
collection Library items
description "We study the dispersion in rates of provincial economic- and TFP growth in China. Our results show that regional growth patterns can be understood as a function of several interrelated factors, which include investment in physical capital, human capital, and infrastructure capital; the infusion of new technology and its regional spread; and market reforms, with a major step forward occurring following Deng Xiaoping’s “South Trip” in 1992. We find that FDI had much larger effect on TFP growth before 1994 than after, and we attribute this to emergence of other channels of technology transfer when marketization accelerated. We find that human capital positively affects output per worker and productivity growth. In particular, in terms of its direct contribution to production, educated labor has a much higher marginal product. Moreover, we estimate a positive, direct effect of human capital on TFP growth. This direct effect is hypothesized to come from domestic innovation activities. The estimated spillover effect of human capital on TFP growth is positive and statistically significant, which is very robust to model specifications and estimation methods. The spillover effect appears to be much stronger before 1994. We conduct cost-benefit analysis and a policy “experiment,” in which we project the impact increases in human capital and infrastructure capital on regional inequality. We conclude that investing in human capital will be an effective policy to reduce regional gaps in China as well as an efficient means to promote economic growth."
format TEXT
geographic China
id 19180072124919082549_cbcda6010e5e4e749c7e1f433cbca18b
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19180072124919082549_cbcda6010e5e4e749c7e1f433cbca18b
is_hierarchy_title Human capital, economic growth, and regional inequality in China
language English
physical 53 p.
Digital
publishDate 2007
publisher Bonn
IZA
spellingShingle Fleisher, Belton
Li, Haizheng
Zhao, Min Qiang
economic growth
foreign investment
human capital
regional development
regional level
statistics
technological change
Human capital, economic growth, and regional inequality in China
title Human capital, economic growth, and regional inequality in China
topic economic growth
foreign investment
human capital
regional development
regional level
statistics
technological change
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19180072124919082549-Human-capital,-economic-growth.htm