Technology diversity and development: Evidence from China's industrial enterprises

Karen Fisher-Vanden, Gary H. Jefferson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

44 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper investigates the phenomenon of individual firms simultaneously developing and adopting technical change with varying factor biases. Firms in a large panel of Chinese industrial enterprise data exhibit three channels of technical change, each associated with different patterns of firm-level factor bias and strategic purpose. The neo-classical growth process, associated with Harrod-neutral technical change, drives capital deepening. In-house R&D is found to be robustly labor- and material-using and capital- and energy-saving thereby capitalizing on China's comparative advantage. Finally, the purchase of imported technologies, which are comparatively capital-using, focuses on new product development. These diversified channels of technical change reveal a pattern of developing country technical change that is far more diversified than that suggested by the conventional growth literature. Journal of Comparative Economics 36 (4) (2008) 658-672.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)658-672
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Comparative Economics
Volume36
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2008

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Economics and Econometrics

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