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The Relative Importance Of Effort, Organization, And Technological Change In Chinese Factories

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Abstract

Production reports from a set of Chinese factories reveal very rapid productivity growth from 1980 to 1991. To understand the underlying factors, the effects of work effort and labor organization are separated from the productivity estimates. Data analysis reveals that these two effects jointly explain most of the measured productivity growth during this period. This result suggests that (1) very substantial productivity growth can be realized for economies in the take‐off stage even without substantial pure technological advancement, and (2) in reforming the Chinese state factories, there will have to be a more difficult second stage to confront their technological backwardness.

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  • H Li, 2001. "The Relative Importance Of Effort, Organization, And Technological Change In Chinese Factories," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 19(1), pages 99-108, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:19:y:2001:i:1:p:99-108
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.2001.tb00053.x
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    1. Krishna, Pravin & Poole, Jennifer P. & Senses, Mine Zeynep, 2011. "Trade liberalization, firm heterogeneity, and wages : new evidence from matched employer-employee data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5711, The World Bank.

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