OECD Economics Department Working Papers
Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.
The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.
- Forthcoming titles
- ISSN: 18151973 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/18151973
Fast-Falling Barriers and Growing Concentration
The Emergence of a Private Economy in China
This paper assesses the progress of China’s transition toward a market economy by examining the structure of ownership, productivity, and profitability, as well as the concentration of production across firms,
industries and regions. It does this by analyzing a database of firm microdata of the quarter of a million industrial companies in operation during the 1998–2003 period. Results show that the private sector now accounts for more than half of industrial output, compared with barely more than a quarter in 1998, and
operates much more efficiently than the public sector. Higher productivity has fed through to profitability, motivating greater regional specialization of production. These changes are consistent with what would be expected in a market-based economy, and suggests that reforms are making rapid progress. This Working Paper relates to the 2005 OECD Economic Survey of China (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/china).
Keywords: firm microdata, transition, market economy, restructuring, regional concentration, private sector, productivity
JEL:
F15: International Economics / Trade / Economic Integration;
P23: Economic Systems / Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies / Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population;
D4: Microeconomics / Market Structure, Pricing, and Design;
O12: Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Development / Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development;
L11: Industrial Organization / Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance / Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
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