Local protectionism and regional specialization: evidence from China's industries [An article from: Journal of International Economics]

This digital document is a journal article from Journal of International Economics, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
This paper uses a dynamic panel estimation method to investigate the determinants of regional specialization in China's industries, paying particular attention to local protectionism. Less geographic concentration is found in industries where the past tax-plus-profit margins and the shares of state ownership are high, reflecting stronger local government protection of these industries. The evidence also supports the scale-economies theory of regional specialization. Finally, the overall time trend of regional specialization of China's industries is found to have reversed an early drop in the mid-1980s, and registered a significant increase in the later years.