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Has the Chinese economy passed the Lewis turning point?

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  • Deqiang Liu

Abstract

There are a number of studies related to whether China's economy has passed through the Lewis turning point or not. However, definitive conclusions have yet to be obtained. Some studies argue that China's economy has not yet reached the Lewis turning point, while some studies claim that China's economy has crossed it already. In this study, we estimate the marginal productivity of labor in China's primary industry based on province level data and suggest a different proxy for the survival wage compared to previous studies. We discovered that China's economy has passed through the Lewis turning point around 2002–2004. A similar conclusion was also obtained by relating the substitutive relation of labor and capital inputs in China's agricultural production.

Suggested Citation

  • Deqiang Liu, 2015. "Has the Chinese economy passed the Lewis turning point?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 404-422, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rjapxx:v:20:y:2015:i:3:p:404-422
    DOI: 10.1080/13547860.2015.1054167
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Knight, John & Deng, Quheng & Li, Shi, 2011. "The puzzle of migrant labour shortage and rural labour surplus in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 585-600.
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    Cited by:

    1. Subir Bairagi & Muntaseer Kamal, 2019. "Is Bangladesh’s Economy Approaching the Lewis Turning Point?," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 20(1), pages 19-45, March.
    2. Kanbur, Ravi & Wang, Yue & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2021. "The great Chinese inequality turnaround," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 467-482.
    3. Ha Thi Thanh Doan & Trinh Quang Long, 2019. "Technical Change, Exports, and Employment Growth in China: A Structural Decomposition Analysis," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 18(2), pages 28-46, Summer.

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