China’s unorthodox approach to economic transition has resulted in sustained high growth. However, in recent years Chinese economists have increasingly referred to the growth pattern as “extensive”, generated mainly through the expansion of inputs. Our investigation of the Chinese economy...

This study analyzes provincial productivity growth in China for the period of 1979-2001. The Malmquist Index approach allows us to decompose productivity growth into two components, technical progress and efficiency change. Considerable productivity growth was found for most of the data period,...