A welfare economics analysis of China's industrial layout restructuring. Issue 2 (15th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fuxiang, Wu; Yue, Cai
• Is Part Of: China political economy. Volume 1:Issue 2(2018)
• Page Start: 263
• Page End: 283
• Publication Date: 2018-11-15
• Subjects: Industrial layout -- Industrial rebalancing -- Differentiated labour -- Welfare compensation; China -- Economic policy -- Periodicals; China -- Economic conditions -- Periodicals; China -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 338.951
• DOI: 10.1108/CPE-10-2018-018
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2516-1652

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: At present, China's industrial spatial layout faces the predicament of over-agglomeration of Eastern China industries and the near disintegration of industrial structure in the central and western regions. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the perspective of differentiated inter-regional labor mobility, this paper constructed a model framework of quadratic sub-utility quasi-linear preference utility function, and conducted model deduction and numerical simulation on causal factors of this spatial imbalance along the two dimensions of individual and regional welfare. Findings: The study finds that in the long run, industrial spatial layout imposes a certain threshold limit on the portfolio proportion of differentiated labor. The dilemma of China's industrial spatial layout is attributable to the deviation of the market's optimal agglomeration from the social optimal agglomeration, and to the disfunction of Eastern China's role as an intermediary between the global and the domestic value chain. Originality/value: To resolve this predicament of industrial layout, the unitary welfare compensation based on fiscal transfer payment has to be switched to a more comprehensive approach giving consideration to industrial rebalancing.