Lewisian Turning Point in the Chinese Economy Comparison with East Asian Countries

by Minami, Ryoshin; Makino, Fumio; Kim, Kwan S.

• ISBN13: 9781137397256
• ISBN10: 113739725X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-06-30
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

In recent years there has been heated debate surrounding China's labour market, many economic commentators have argued that China has passed the 'Lewisian turning point' in its economic development as migrant workers have become scarce in coastal and urban area resulting in increased wage. This study challenges this assumption through presenting a close examination of the historical evolution in China's Labor market and empirically and theoretically analysing the changing structure of China's labor market in the context of the Lewisian turning point. The host of contributors offer a comprehensive study of the Labor market in China against the experiences of other East and South Asian countries, such as Japan, Korea, and Indonesia.

This volume finds that surplus labour still exists in the rural areas of China, and in urban industries which face continuing shortages in labor. Its findings also reveal that income distribution in China has worsened due to the existence of surplus labour and the absence of institutional reforms. These conclusions have significant political implication as it could lead to social and political instability.

Lewisian Turning Point in the Chinese Economy will be invaluable reading for researchers interested in the China and economic development.

Author Biography

Ryoshin Minami is Professor of Economics at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan.
 
Kwan S. Kim is professor of economics emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, USA. Dr. Kim's teaching and research experiences span both development economics and global political economy. He was a Rockefeller Foundation scholar in Kenya and Tanzani; a senior economist with US Agency for International Development; a visiting professor at Universidad de Nuevo Leon in Mexico, Maastricht School of Management, and American Graduate School of Business; and served as a Monbusho scholar at Hitotsubashi Institute of Economic Research in Tokyo. He also served as president of the Korean-America Economic Association. He has published fourteen books and over seventy articles in professional journals and book chapters.
 
Fumio Makino is professor at the Faculty of Economics, Hosei University, Japan. He teaches Economic History, Japanese Economy, and studies comparative economic development in the east Asian counties/regions. He was a director of Institute of Comparative Economic Studies, Hosei University, from 2010 to 2011. He has published fifteen books and over fifty articles in professional journals and book chapters.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; Ryoshin Minami

PART I: LEWISIAN TURNING POINT IN ASIAN COUNTRIES

2. Turning Point in Japan: Structural Change in the Labor Market and Significance; Ryoshin Minami

3. Structural Change of the Labor Market and the Turning Point in South Korea; Chang-Nam Kim

4. Agricultural Surplus Labor and Poverty in Indonesia; Susumu Hondai and Kazutoshi Nakamura

5. Labor Market and the Lewisian Turning Point in China; Ryoshin Minami and Xinxin Ma

PART II: STRUCTURAL CHANGE OF THE LABOUR MARKET IN CHINA: FACTS AND FACTORS

6. Demographic Transition and Employment Change; Fang Cai, Meiyan Wang and Yue Qu

7. Regional Migration and Structural Change in the Labor Market; Makoto Takada and Li Xu

8. Foreign Direct Investment and Employment; Jin Du and Hiromi Ishizuka

9. Labor Market Transformation in Shanghai; Shanping Yan

10. Labor Migration and Urban -Rural Income Disparity; Jinjun Xue and Wenshu Gao

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

11. China's Turning Point from an East Asian Perspective: Prospective Recapitulation; Ryoshin Minami, Kwan S. Kim and Fumio Makino