Moving toward markets? Labor allocation in rural China

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bowlus, AJ; Sicular, T
• 署名单位: Western University (University of Western Ontario)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3878(03)00040-3
• 发表日期: 2003
• 页码: 561-583
• 关键词: Separability; surplus labor; labor demand; CHINA; Economic reforms

摘要

China's economic reforms have brought rapid growth in rural off-farm employment, raising questions about the assumption that rural China is labor surplus and has poorly functioning factor markets. We investigate this by testing for separability between household labor demand and supply using panel data. We find that separability is rejected overall, indicating that factor markets remain underdeveloped. Nonseparability, however, is associated with labor surplus in some areas and labor shortage in others. Moreover, separability holds where substantial employment opportunities exist in the wider township, suggesting that such employment promotes competitive allocation within villages as well as the inter-village movement of resources. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.