Levels of structural change: An analysis of China’s development push 1998-2014 Torsten Heinrich1,2,3,y, Jangho Yang4,1,2,z, and Shuanping Dai5,6,7,{ 1Oxford Martin Programme on Technological and Economic Change, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3BD, UK 2Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UQ, UK 3Department for Business Studies and Economics, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany 4Department of Management Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada 5School of Economics, Jilin University, 130012, Changchun, China 6Centre for China Public Sector Economy Research, Jilin University, 130012, Changchun, China 7IN-EAST Institute of East Asian Studies, Universität Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany –
[email protected] [email protected] {
[email protected] – October 1, 2020 Abstract We investigate structural change in the PR China during a period of particularly rapid growth 1998-2014. For this, we utilize sectoral data from the World Input-Output Database and firm-level data from the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database. Starting with correlation laws known from the literature (Fabricant’s laws), we investigate which empirical regularities hold at the sectoral level and show that many of these correlations cannot be recovered at the firm level. For a more detailed analysis, we propose a multi-level framework, which is validated empirically. For this, we perform a robust regression, since various input variables at the firm-level as well as the residuals of exploratory OLS regressions are found to be heavy-tailed. We conclude that Fabricant’s laws and other regularities are primarily characteristics of the sectoral level which rely on aspects like infrastructure, technology level, innovation capabilities, and the knowledge base of the relevant labor force.