This proposal, between Drs. Thomas G. Rawski and Gary H. Jefferson of the University of Pittsburgh, and Professors WANG Hongchang ZHENG Yuxin of the Institute of Quantitative and Technical Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, focuses on productivity and reform in China's industrial economy, critical factors in assessing the success of China's economic reforms since 1978. The investigators' initial analysis shows that multi-factor productivity in state industry, previously thought to have stagnated in the mid 1950's, rose slowly before 1978 and accelerated sharply during the post 1978 reforms. Because aggregate results hide a wide range of sectoral and regional performance, the investigators will use newly available data to begin a detailed survey of sectoral and regional productivity trends; to investigate compilation, aggregation and pricing problems; to pursue a production function approach to specifying the technological properties of Chinese studies that might expand the variety of institutional arrangements available for systematic empirical analysis. They want to describe the efficiency of various segments of Chinese industry; to identify what determines unusual productivity; and eventually to use these empirical results as a basis for examining policy alternatives and institutional arrangements to improve industrial productivity and efficiency. This proposal is jointly sponsored by NSF and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
