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Exports, Foreign Direct Investment and Employment: The Case of China
Author(s) -
Fu Xiaolan,
Balasubramanyam V. N.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
world economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.594
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1467-9701
pISSN - 0378-5920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9701.2005.00694.x
Subject(s) - economics , china , foreign direct investment , investment (military) , production (economics) , economic surplus , international economics , international trade , market economy , macroeconomics , welfare , politics , political science , law
This paper analyses the growth of production and employment in China during the period 1978 to the early 1990s. It argues that the Chinese experience with export‐led growth provides an excellent case study of the phenomenon of a vent for surplus resources provided by exports, identified by Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations and elaborated by Hla Myint. The paper extends the Smith‐Myint model of ‘vent‐for‐surplus’ productive capacity to ‘vent‐for‐surplus’ resources by allowing for foreign investment flows. The ‘vent‐for‐surplus’ effect of exports on employment and growth is examined in a dynamic labour demand framework for a panel of township and village enterprises (TVEs) in China.