Rethinking China.s Path of Industrialization

This study shows that China.s post-1949 state-led industrialization has closely followed an underlying path that began in the late nineteenth century. It was initiated by pressing national defence needs and has since been motivated by the same and strong incentives for a faster catch-up with the West despite radical regime shifts. Government determined or influenced resource allocation benefited selected industries and hence nurtured vested interest groups connecting and integrating with the ruling elite, which have strengthened and sustained the path. This means that the path is inherently inefficient which is evidenced by a newly constructed dataset. Reform measures can only temporarily improve efficiency performance, but are unable to break the path in the absence of a genuine political democracy.government engineered industrialization, path dependence, central planning, economic reform, efficiency

Comparative Output and Labour Productivity in Manufacturing for China, Japan, Korea and the United States in Circa 1935 by a Production PPP Approach

Following the standard methodology for measuring industry-of-origin or production-side PPPs, this study compares the unit values of manufacturing products in China, Japan, Korea and the US to calculate unit value ratios (UVRs) and hence estimates PPPs for individual manufacturing industries using the US as the base country in circa 1935. Based on the products that could be matched between these countries, the estimated manufacturing production PPPs for China, Japan and Korea are only from half to two thirds of the prevailing market exchange rates, suggesting much lower cost of production in manufacturing in these countries than in the US. The estimated PPPs are used to calculate industry-level output and labour productivity in China, Japan and Korea relative to those of the US in circa 1935. The results show that the size of factory manufacturing in Japan was 12 percent of the US level whereas in China it was only one percent and even lower in Korea. In terms of comparative labour productivity, measured as PPP$ per hour worked with the US as the reference, Japanese and Korean manufacturing was 24 and 23 percent of the US level, whereas Chinese manufacturing was only 7 percent of the US level.Production (industry-of-origin) purchasing power parity (PPP), unit value ratio, comparative output and labour productivity, comparative advantage, economic development

Comparative Output and Labour Productivity in Manufacturing for China, Japan, Korea and the United States in Circa 1935 by a Production PPP Approach

Following the standard methodology for measuring industry-of-origin or productionside PPPs, this study compares the unit values of manufacturing products in China, Japan, Korea and the US to calculate unit value ratios (UVRs) and hence estimates PPPs for individual manufacturing industries using the US as the base country in circa 1935. Based on the products that could be matched between these countries, the estimated manufacturing production PPPs for China, Japan and Korea are only from half to two thirds of the prevailing market exchange rates, suggesting much lower cost of production in manufacturing in these countries than in the US. The estimated PPPs are used to calculate industry-level output and labour productivity in China, Japan and Korea relative to those of the US in circa 1935. The results show that the size of factory manufacturing in Japan was 12 percent of the US level whereas in China it was only one percent and even lower in Korea. In terms of comparative labour productivity, measured as PPP$ per hour worked with the US as the reference, Japanese and Korean manufacturing was 24 and 23 percent of the US level, whereas Chinese manufacturing was only 7 percent of the US level.Production (industry-of-origin) purchasing power parity (PPP), unit value ratio, comparative output and labour productivity, comparative advantage, economic development

Accounting for China's Growth in 1952-2008: China's growth performance debate revisited with a newly constructed data set

Using a "data fundamentalist approach," this study revisits the long debate about China's growth performance by seriously tackling the existing data problems that have been the major obstacles to a proper assessment of China's growth performance. First, this study examines and adjusts the serious break in the official employment statistics in 1990. Second, it provides an adjustment for the numbers employed by a human capital effect. Third, it tests the sensitivity of Maddison's (1998a) "zero labor productivity growth" assumption in gauging the real growth of the so-called "non-material (including non-market) services." Fourth, it further improves the author's earlier physical output-based production index for the industrial sector (Wu, 2002a) by using multiple weights and time-variant value added ratios obtained from the Chinese input-output tables. The likely problem of "product quality" in such a physical measure is examined and rejected. Fifth, it provides a new set of estimates of capital stock for the aggregate economy using alternative deflators and depreciation rates, crosschecked by the author's industry-level capital stock estimates (Wu, 2008b). This completely new data set is used in a Solow-type growth accounting exercise with different factor income share assumptions. The new results-under the full adjustment scenario for the post-reform period using input-output table income weights-show that the estimated annual TFP growth rate is 0.3 percent, which is substantially lower than the estimate of 3.1 percent derived from the official data without any major adjustment. A range of TFP estimates is also provided for each sub-period under different assumptions.

Comparative genomics reveals conservative evolution of the xylem transcriptome in vascular plants

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Wood is a valuable natural resource and a major carbon sink. Wood formation is an important developmental process in vascular plants which played a crucial role in plant evolution. Although genes involved in xylem formation have been investigated, the molecular mechanisms of xylem evolution are not well understood. We use comparative genomics to examine evolution of the xylem transcriptome to gain insights into xylem evolution.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The xylem transcriptome is highly conserved in conifers, but considerably divergent in angiosperms. The functional domains of genes in the xylem transcriptome are moderately to highly conserved in vascular plants, suggesting the existence of a common ancestral xylem transcriptome. Compared to the total transcriptome derived from a range of tissues, the xylem transcriptome is relatively conserved in vascular plants. Of the xylem transcriptome, cell wall genes, ancestral xylem genes, known proteins and transcription factors are relatively more conserved in vascular plants. A total of 527 putative xylem orthologs were identified, which are unevenly distributed across the <it>Arabidopsis </it>chromosomes with eight hot spots observed. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that evolution of the xylem transcriptome has paralleled plant evolution. We also identified 274 conifer-specific xylem unigenes, all of which are of unknown function. These xylem orthologs and conifer-specific unigenes are likely to have played a crucial role in xylem evolution.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Conifers have highly conserved xylem transcriptomes, while angiosperm xylem transcriptomes are relatively diversified. Vascular plants share a common ancestral xylem transcriptome. The xylem transcriptomes of vascular plants are more conserved than the total transcriptomes. Evolution of the xylem transcriptome has largely followed the trend of plant evolution.</p

Genetic architecture behind developmental and seasonal control of tree growth and wood properties in Norway spruce

Genetic control of tree growth and wood formation varies depending on the age of the tree and the time of the year. Single-locus, multi-locus, and multi-trait genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted on 34 growth and wood property traits in 1,303 Norway spruce individuals using exome capture to cover similar to 130K single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). GWAS identified associations to the different wood traits in a total of 85 gene models, and several of these were validated in a progenitor population. A multilocus GWAS model identified more SNPs associated with the studied traits than single-locus or multivariate models. Changes in tree age and annual season influenced the genetic architecture of growth and wood properties in unique ways, manifested by non-overlapping SNP loci. In addition to completely novel candidate genes, SNPs were located in genes previously associated with wood formation, such as cellulose synthases and a NAC transcription factor, but that have not been earlier linked to seasonal or age-dependent regulation of wood properties. Interestingly, SNPs associated with the width of the year rings were identified in homologs of Arabidopsis thaliana BARELY ANY MERISTEM 1 and rice BIG GRAIN 1, which have been previously shown to control cell division and biomass production. The results provide toots for future Norway spruce breeding and functional studies

Generation and analysis of expressed sequence tags from six developing xylem libraries in Pinus radiata D. Don

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Wood is a major renewable natural resource for the timber, fibre and bioenergy industry. <it>Pinus radiata </it>D. Don is the most important commercial plantation tree species in Australia and several other countries; however, genomic resources for this species are very limited in public databases. Our primary objective was to sequence a large number of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from genes involved in wood formation in radiata pine.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Six developing xylem cDNA libraries were constructed from earlywood and latewood tissues sampled at juvenile (7 yrs), transition (11 yrs) and mature (30 yrs) ages, respectively. These xylem tissues represent six typical development stages in a rotation period of radiata pine. A total of 6,389 high quality ESTs were collected from 5,952 cDNA clones. Assembly of 5,952 ESTs from 5' end sequences generated 3,304 unigenes including 952 contigs and 2,352 singletons. About 97.0% of the 5,952 ESTs and 96.1% of the unigenes have matches in the UniProt and TIGR databases. Of the 3,174 unigenes with matches, 42.9% were not assigned GO (Gene Ontology) terms and their functions are unknown or unclassified. More than half (52.1%) of the 5,952 ESTs have matches in the Pfam database and represent 772 known protein families. About 18.0% of the 5,952 ESTs matched cell wall related genes in the MAIZEWALL database, representing all 18 categories, 91 of all 174 families and possibly 557 genes. Fifteen cell wall-related genes are ranked in the 30 most abundant genes, including <it>CesA</it>, <it>tubulin</it>, <it>AGP</it>, <it>SAMS</it>, <it>actin</it>, <it>laccase, CCoAMT, MetE</it>, <it>phytocyanin, pectate lyase</it>, <it>cellulase, SuSy</it>, <it>expansin</it>, <it>chitinase </it>and <it>UDP-glucose dehydrogenase</it>. Based on the PlantTFDB database 41 of the 64 transcription factor families in the poplar genome were identified as being involved in radiata pine wood formation. Comparative analysis of GO term abundance revealed a distinct transcriptome in juvenile earlywood formation compared to other stages of wood development.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The first large scale genomic resource in radiata pine was generated from six developing xylem cDNA libraries. Cell wall-related genes and transcription factors were identified. Juvenile earlywood has a distinct transcriptome, which is likely to contribute to the undesirable properties of juvenile wood in radiata pine. The publicly available resource of radiata pine will also be valuable for gene function studies and comparative genomics in forest trees.</p

Estimation of China\u27s investment in ICT assets and accumulated ICT capital stock

Despite the extraordinary impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the Chinese economy, no systematic information is provided on ICT investment by Chinese official statistics. We make the first attempt to estimate such investment using China’s total investment in equipment by industry controlled by China’s national accounts, constructed by the CIP (China Industrial Productivity) Project, and the relationship between the ICT equipment investment and ICT service intermediate input, as observed in the Japanese economy. We show that over the entire period from 1978 to 2018, China’s investment in the ICT equipment grew by 21.8 percent per annum, which was nearly twice the investment in non-ICT equipment. The share of the ICT investment in China’s nominal GDP peaked in 2002 at 2.7 percent, then declined to approximately 1 percent in the recent years. Similarly, the ICT investment share in the nominal gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) peaked in 2002 at 7.7 percent and then declined to 2.4 percent in 2018, largely attributable to the government’s unprecedented investment in infrastructure to sustain growth. By 2018, China’s ICT intensity, measured as the share of the ICT equipment in the total equipment stock, had reached 10.6 percent, approximately 65 percent that of Japan (16.4 percent in 2015) and 71 percent that of the US (15.0 percent in 2017). In sectoral comparisons, we show that China’s service sector is more-ICT intensive (17.3) than its industrial sector (5.4), a pattern similar to, but with a narrower spread than that in Japan (25.8 vs. 4.5 in 2015), and the US (21.1 vs. 3.8 in 2017)