IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v11y2021i2p2158244021999379.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis on the Sources of China’s Economic Growth From the Perspective of Cleaner Production

Author

Listed:
  • Na Zhou
  • Jinkai Zhao
  • Kai Zhao
  • Dong Li

Abstract

Since the reform and opening up to the outside world, China’s economy has created a remarkable growth miracle. However, as China enters the new normal economy, the world is full of doubts about its potential for economic growth. The article proper concerns an analysis on some factors affecting China’s economic growth, such as physical capital, labor quality, labor quantity, energy consumption, and environmental cost. Also embraced in this article is the measurement of the contribution of each factor to total factor productivity. The research is conducted on the basis of the provincial panel data of China over 2002–2016, from the perspective of cleaner production. The results reveal that (a) China’s economic growth had significant positive correlations with factor inputs, including traditional input elements (physical capital, labor quantity, labor quality) and natural elements (energy consumption and environmental cost); (b) the direct and indirect effects of physical capital, labor quality, and energy consumption on economic growth were significantly positive, while those of environmental cost were significantly negative; and (c) the contributions of the factors to the total factor productivity were ranked respectively as follows: physical capital (48.63%), energy consumption (16.81%), labor quality (14.85%), environmental cost (10.88%), and labor quantity (8.83%). China’s economic growth belonged to “perspiration.†In addition to the traditional input factors, natural factors also played an important role in boosting China’s economic development. It is urgent how to highlight the role of labor quality, while downplaying the contribution of natural factors, and then shift to cleaner production in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Na Zhou & Jinkai Zhao & Kai Zhao & Dong Li, 2021. "Analysis on the Sources of China’s Economic Growth From the Perspective of Cleaner Production," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440219, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:2:p:2158244021999379
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244021999379
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244021999379
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244021999379?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yuyuan Wen, 2014. "The spillover effect of FDI and its impact on productivity in high economic output regions: A comparative analysis of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, China," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(2), pages 341-365, June.
    2. Groenwold, Nicolaas & Lee, Guoping & Chen, Anping, 2008. "Inter-regional spillovers in China: The importance of common shocks and the definition of the regions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 32-52, March.
    3. Zuliu F. Hu & Mohsin S. Khan, 1997. "Why Is China Growing So Fast?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 44(1), pages 103-131, March.
    4. Shunsuke Managi & Shinji Kaneko, 2006. "Economic growth and the environment in China: an empirical analysis of productivity," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(1), pages 89-133.
    5. Masahiko Aoki, 2011. "The Five-Phases of Economic Development and Institutional Evolution in China and Japan," Development Economics Working Papers 23196, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    6. Gregory C. Chow, 1993. "Capital Formation and Economic Growth in China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 809-842.
    7. Alwyn Young, 2003. "Gold into Base Metals: Productivity Growth in the People's Republic of China during the Reform Period," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(6), pages 1220-1261, December.
    8. International Monetary Fund, 1997. "Why is China Growing So Fast?," IMF Economic Issues 1997/005, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Zheng, Jinghai & Bigsten, Arne & Hu, Angang, 2009. "Can China's Growth be Sustained? A Productivity Perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 874-888, April.
    10. Feng, Zhenhua & Lien, Jaimie W. & Zheng, Jie, 2020. "Flexible or mandatory retirement? Welfare implications of retirement policies for a population with heterogeneous health conditions," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1032-1055.
    11. Wanping Yang & Jinkai Zhao & Kai Zhao, 2018. "Analysis of Regional Difference and Spatial Influencing Factors of Human Settlement Ecological Environment in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    12. William D. Nordhaus, 1992. "Lethal Model 2: The Limits to Growth Revisited," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(2), pages 1-60.
    13. Brun, J. F. & Combes, J. L. & Renard, M. F., 2002. "Are there spillover effects between coastal and noncoastal regions in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 161-169.
    14. Masahiko Aoki, 2012. "The Five Phases of Economic Development and Institutional Evolution in China, Japan, and Korea," International Economic Association Series, in: Masahiko Aoki & Timur Kuran & Gérard Roland (ed.), Institutions and Comparative Economic Development, chapter 1, pages 13-47, Palgrave Macmillan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wanping Yang & Jinkai Zhao, 2018. "Study On China’S Economic Development From The Perspective Of Strong Sustainability," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(01), pages 161-192, April.
    2. Wanping Yang & Jinkai Zhao, 2018. "Sources of China’s Economic Growth: A Case for Green Accounting," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 8(2), pages 1-3.
    3. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2006. "Neither a borrower nor a lender: Does China's zero net foreign asset position make economic sense?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 943-971, July.
    4. Chong-En Bai & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Yingyi Qian, 2006. "The Return to Capital in China," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 37(2), pages 61-102.
    5. Minzhe Du & Bing Wang & Yanrui Wu, 2014. "Sources of China’s Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis Based on the BML Index with Green Growth Accounting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-22, September.
    6. Liao, Pei-Ju, 2013. "The one-child policy: A macroeconomic analysis," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 49-62.
    7. Bin Wang & Guangnan Zhang & James Peoples, 2016. "Decomposing productivity growth in Chinese manufacturing," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 6(11), pages 279-293, November.
    8. Nadja Wirz, 2008. "Assessing the Role of Technology Adoption in China's Growth Performance," EPRU Working Paper Series 2008-06, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    9. Sima Siami-Namini, 2017. "China's Economy and the Global Financial Crisis," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(5), pages 259-265.
    10. WU, Jidong & LI, Ning & SHI, Peijun, 2014. "Benchmark wealth capital stock estimations across China's 344 prefectures: 1978 to 2012," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 288-302.
    11. Scherngell, Thomas & Borowiecki, Martin & Hu, Yuanjia, 2014. "Effects of knowledge capital on total factor productivity in China: A spatial econometric perspective," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 82-94.
    12. Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2017. "Do urbanization and public expenditure affect productivity growth? The case of Chinese Provinces," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 127-156, December.
    13. Kashif Munir & Shahzad Arshad, 2018. "Factor accumulation and economic growth in Pakistan: incorporating human capital," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(3), pages 480-491, March.
    14. Chadwick C. Curtis & Steven Lugauer & Nelson C. Mark, 2015. "Demographic Patterns and Household Saving in China," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 58-94, April.
    15. Tian, Xu & Yu, Xiaohua, 2012. "The Enigmas of TFP in China: A meta-analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 396-414.
    16. Almas Heshmati & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2010. "Technical Change and Total Factor Productivity Growth: The Case of Chinese Provinces," TEMEP Discussion Papers 201054, Seoul National University; Technology Management, Economics, and Policy Program (TEMEP), revised Feb 2010.
    17. Jesus Felipe & John McCombie, 2010. "Modeling Technological Progress and Investment in China: Some Caveats," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_643, Levy Economics Institute.
    18. Rui Hao, 2011. "Sources of income differences across Chinese provinces during the reform period: a development accounting exercise," CERDI Working papers halshs-00557001, HAL.
    19. Glawe, Linda & Wagner, Helmut, 2017. "A stylized model of China’s growth since 1978," CEAMeS Discussion Paper Series 5/2017, University of Hagen, Center for East Asia Macro-economic Studies (CEAMeS), revised 2017.
    20. Kuo‐Cheng Kuo & Wen‐Min Lu & Dinh Tam Nguyen & Hsiu Fei Wang, 2020. "The effect of special economic zones on governance performance and their spillover effects in Chinese provinces," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 446-460, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:2:p:2158244021999379. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.