Technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from China’s manufacturing

This article investigates the microeconomics of employment dynamics, using a Chinese manufacturing firm-level data set over the period 1998-2007. It does so in the light of a scheme of "circular and cumulative causation," whereby firms' heterogeneous productivity gains, sales dynamics...

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Main Authors: Dosi, Giovanni, Yu, Xiaodan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56686/
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author Dosi, Giovanni
Yu, Xiaodan
author_facet Dosi, Giovanni
Yu, Xiaodan
author_sort Dosi, Giovanni
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This article investigates the microeconomics of employment dynamics, using a Chinese manufacturing firm-level data set over the period 1998-2007. It does so in the light of a scheme of "circular and cumulative causation," whereby firms' heterogeneous productivity gains, sales dynamics and innovation activities ultimately shape the patterns of employment dynamics. Using firm's productivity growth as a proxy for process innovation, our results show that the latter correlates negatively with firm-level employment growth. Conversely, relative productivity levels, as such a general proxy for the broad technological advantages/disadvantages of each firm, do show positive effect on employment growth in the long-run through replicator-type dynamics. Moreover, firm-level demand dynamics play a significant role in driving employment growth, which more than compensate the labor-saving effect due to technological progress. Finally, and somewhat puzzlingly, the direct effects of product innovation and patenting activities on employment growth appear to be negligible. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved.
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spelling nottingham-566862020-08-01T04:30:13Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56686/ Technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from China’s manufacturing Dosi, Giovanni Yu, Xiaodan This article investigates the microeconomics of employment dynamics, using a Chinese manufacturing firm-level data set over the period 1998-2007. It does so in the light of a scheme of "circular and cumulative causation," whereby firms' heterogeneous productivity gains, sales dynamics and innovation activities ultimately shape the patterns of employment dynamics. Using firm's productivity growth as a proxy for process innovation, our results show that the latter correlates negatively with firm-level employment growth. Conversely, relative productivity levels, as such a general proxy for the broad technological advantages/disadvantages of each firm, do show positive effect on employment growth in the long-run through replicator-type dynamics. Moreover, firm-level demand dynamics play a significant role in driving employment growth, which more than compensate the labor-saving effect due to technological progress. Finally, and somewhat puzzlingly, the direct effects of product innovation and patenting activities on employment growth appear to be negligible. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC. All rights reserved. Oxford University Press 2019-02-28 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56686/1/Technological%20catching-up%2C%20sales%20dynamics%2C%20and%20employment%20growth%20Evidence%20from%20China%27s%20manufacturing.pdf Dosi, Giovanni and Yu, Xiaodan (2019) Technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from China’s manufacturing. Industrial and Corporate Change, 28 (1). pp. 79-107. ISSN 0960-6491 Employment Growth; Demand; Product Innovation; Process Innovation; Export; China catching-up http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icc/dty023 doi:10.1093/icc/dty023 doi:10.1093/icc/dty023
spellingShingle Employment Growth; Demand; Product Innovation; Process Innovation; Export; China catching-up
Dosi, Giovanni
Yu, Xiaodan
Technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from China’s manufacturing
title Technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from China’s manufacturing
title_full Technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from China’s manufacturing
title_fullStr Technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from China’s manufacturing
title_full_unstemmed Technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from China’s manufacturing
title_short Technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from China’s manufacturing
title_sort technological catching-up, sales dynamics, and employment growth: evidence from china’s manufacturing
topic Employment Growth; Demand; Product Innovation; Process Innovation; Export; China catching-up
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56686/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56686/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56686/