Essays on Regional Economic Growth in China

This dissertation comprises of three essays that contribute to the literature on regional economic growth in China. In Chapter 2, I examine the impact of manufacturing growth on employment in the non-tradable sector for prefecture-level cities in China. I find that adding ten manufacturing jobs creates 3.4 additional jobs in the non-tradable sector during 2000-2010. The multiplier is greater for high-technology manufacturing industries, is the largest for wholesale, retail and catering, and is greater in inland regions. In Chapter 3, I explore the role of industry and services in growth. I found that increase in industry output share will lead to subsequent economic growth, but the impact of services on growth in not clear. My findings remain robust when applying alternative measure of economic growth or industrialization, and robust after accounting for spatial spillovers. Chapter 4 models the temporary rural-urban migration in China using a continuous OLG model with heterogeneous agents. An agent determines his migration duration optimally based on his ability, urban/rural wage gap, and urban/rural services price differential. The model features the role of urban/rural services price differential that generates return migration. When the service price differential increases, people tend to increase their saving during migration and reduce their migration duration.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Economics

Grantor

Economics

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Wang, Ting

• manufacturing
• China
• regional growth

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Identifier

etd-06162016-160705
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1103

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.lsu.edu:gradschool_dissertations-2102