Non-neutral technology, firm heterogeneity, and labor demand

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zhang, Hongsong
• 署名单位: University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.06.001
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 145-168
• 关键词: Declining labor share; Labor share heterogeneity; Non-Hicks neutral technology; firm heterogeneity; Chinese steel industry

摘要

In firm-level panel data, labor share exhibits large cross-sectional differences and a declining trend over time. This study examines the role of non-Hicks neutral technology differences across firms and over time in explaining these patterns. The non-Hicks neutral technology allows for differential factor-augmenting efficiencies for capital, labor, and material, and it has direct implications on labor shares. Estimated using firm-level production data and variation in input prices, evidence from the Chinese steel industry affirms the large heterogeneity of the non-Hicks neutral technology across firms, and its change over time is also highly non-Hicks neutral toward saving labor. The non-Hicks neutral technology explains over 50 percent of the 5.01-percentage points decline in labor share in the sample period, mainly due to the evolution of heterogeneous non-Hicks neutral technology and the resulting reallocation effect.