Export Performance and Growth in China: A Cross-Provincial Analysis

The role of exports in economic growth continues to be debated and tested in the literature on trade an development. China is a new player in this debate with its rapid entry into international makrets. This paper extends some of the previous empirical studies on the relationship between exports and economic growth in order to assess to what extent China's remarkable export growth has contributed to the country's overall growth. The study utilizes data for 26 provinces between 1985 and 1993 in an export-augmented aggregate production function approach. The results of our study support the hypothesis that exports have contributed to the growthh of provincial incomes in China for the period examined with both the cross-sectional and pooled analyses, with the results being primarily determined by the coastal provinces compared with inland areas.