We estimate the extent to which firms responded to tariff reductions associated with China’s WTO entry by altering labor’s share of value. Firm-level regressions indicate that firms in industries subject to tariff cuts raised labor’s share relative to economy-wide trends, both through...

Using China's Annual Survey of Industrial Production, we estimate the marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) for all state-owned and above-scale non-state manufacturing firms for 2001--2004 and 2004--2007. We find that labor productivity varies systematically within industries by ownership...

China’s WTO accession offers a rare opportunity to observe multinationals’ response to changes in property rights in a developing country. WTO accession reduced incentives for joint ventures while reducing constraints on wholly owned foreign subsidiaries. Concomitant with these changes was a...

New economic geography models predict that costly transport and the spatial distribution of demand affect the profits firms can earn in different locations, leading to higher wages for workers employed in cities with better geographic access to markets. In light of the dramatic embrace of...

Using China’s Annual Survey of Industrial Production, we estimate the marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) for all state-owned and above-scale non-state manufacturing firms for 2001–2004 and 2004–2007. We find that labor productivity varies systematically within industries by ownership...