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Road infrastructure and the share of labor income: Evidence from China’s manufacturing sector

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  • Zhang, Xun
  • Wan, Guanghua
  • Wang, Xu

Abstract

To shed light on the effect of public expenditure on the functional income distribution, this paper represents a first attempt to analyze the impact of road infrastructure on the share of labor income. Based on data from China, we initially find that improvement of the road infrastructure is negatively correlated with the share of labor income and that the results are robust to endogeneity checks. We then explore two transmission channels underlying this negative relationship. First, since road infrastructure leads to expansion of markets, it helps promote the mobility and bargaining power of capital, raising the share of capital income, especially under the current hukou system, which impedes labor mobility. Second, the share of labor income declines as an economy transforms from being labor intensive (dominated by the agriculture sector) to being capital intensive (dominated by the manufacturing sector). China has been undergoing industrialization, which is reinforced by the development of the road infrastructure, contributing to the decline in the share of labor income associated with structural transformation. Finally, when the two transmission channels are controlled for, road infrastructure is found to help raise the labor share and therefore reduce income inequality in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Xun & Wan, Guanghua & Wang, Xu, 2017. "Road infrastructure and the share of labor income: Evidence from China’s manufacturing sector," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 513-523.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:41:y:2017:i:4:p:513-523
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2017.08.001
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bom, Pedro R.D. & Erauskin, Iñaki, 2022. "Productive government investment and the labor share," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 347-363.
    2. Pedro R. D. Bom & Aitor Goti, 2018. "Public Capital and the Labor Income Share," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Yating Dai & Jian Cheng & Daolin Zhu, 2022. "Understanding the Impact of Land Supply Structure on Low Consumption: Empirical Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, April.
    4. Xiao, De & Yu, Fan & Guo, Chenhao, 2023. "The impact of China's pilot carbon ETS on the labor income share: Based on an empirical method of combining PSM with staggered DID," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    5. Vu Thi Kim Hanh & Nguyen Hong Nga, 2023. "The effect of labor and capital on transportation logistics’ development: The case of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 2189562-218, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Functional income distribution; Inequality; Road infrastructure; Public expenditure; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures

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