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Rising wages, yuan's appreciation and China's processing exports

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  • Xing, Yuqing

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of rising wage and the appreciation of the yuan on the structure of China's exports. China's exports are classified here as ordinary exports (OE), and two distinctive groups of processing exports, pure assembly exports (PAE) and mixed assembly exports (MAE). The data analyzed here are derived from panel data covering China's bilateral PAE and MAE with 120 trading partners from 1993 to 2013. The estimates of fixed effect models show that wage increase and the appreciation of the yuan reduced the proportion of assembly exports in China's bilateral exports. Specifically, for a 10% increase in Chinese manufacturing wages, the share of PAE in China's bilateral exports is expected to fall 4.59% and that of MAE to decrease 0.9%; and a 10% nominal appreciation of the yuan against the US dollar is expected to lower the shares of PAE and MAE 8.56% and 7.26% respectively. The empirical results imply that rising wage and cumulative appreciation of the yuan have eroded China's comparative advantage in the assembly of products for international markets, resulting in substantial contraction of assembly exports. The analysis provides a supply-side explanation for the fall of China's export growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Xing, Yuqing, 2018. "Rising wages, yuan's appreciation and China's processing exports," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 114-122.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:48:y:2018:i:c:p:114-122
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2017.04.002
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    1. Willem Thorbecke & Gordon Smith, 2010. "How Would an Appreciation of the Renminbi and Other East Asian Currencies Affect China's Exports?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 95-108, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chen Chen & Nimesh Salike & Willem Thorbecke, 2023. "Exchange rate effects on China's exports: Product sophistication and exchange rate elasticity," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 371-400, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; Wage; Exchange rates; Processing trade;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade

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