China as an Integrated Area?

This paper documents business cycles’ fluctuations in Chinese provinces. China’s de facto federalism, within a context of great geographical and economic diversity, suggests the great importance of policy coordination between provinces. We investigate the role of various potential determinants of provincial business cycles’ synchronization. We consider exogenous factors like distance and size as well as policy factors such as industrial, fiscal and trade policy. Results emphasize the benefits of domestic trade and local fiscal policy rationalization on the stabilization of output fluctuations. However, they also identify international trade and local economic policy heterogeneity as growing centrifugal forces.