Several studies have highlighted that African manufacturing wages are higher than comparator countries at similar levels of development, which contributes to the continent’s lower levels of manufacturing competitiveness. This paper derives unit labor costs - average wages relative to...

This study focuses on the labour cost competitiveness of the chemical industries in China and Finland in particular, using the corresponding German, the US and Estonian industries as a point of comparison in the early 2000s. This study deepens the analysis of the earlier study of the cost...

This study focuses on the labour cost competitiveness of the paper and pulp industry in China and Finland in particular, using the corresponding German, the US and Estonian industries as a point of comparison in the early 2000s. This study deepens the analysis of the earlier study of the cost...

The focal issue of this investigation is whether the rising services sector would contract cost disease and stagnate economic growth in People's Republic of China (PRC), as diagnosed generally of tertiarization in Baumol's unbalanced growth model. Using provincial panel data for 1985-2001, the...

This study finds that the growth in labour costs in China is not passed through fully to final prices in China, neither in the tradable goods sector nor in the economy as a whole. This probably reflects the strong pressure on profit margins from a highly competitive environment, especially in...