No Simple Relationship between Technological Improvements and Employment Generation in a Large Developing Country like China: Thoughts Stimulated by Sjöholm and Lundin.

Fredrik Sjöholm and Nannan Lundin (this issue) have found that China's science and technology (S&T) activities had no effect on employment growth. I disagree with their conclusion and attribute it to the neglect of important factors like the S&T upgrading by small firms, the spillover effects from S&T activities, differences across industries, and differences in the stage of economic development. I used macroeconomic and cross-regional data in China to estimate the effect of technology development on job creation and found that technology innovation did have a positive impact on employment in the eastern region of China. This suggests that a positive relationship between technological improvement and employment creation is reliably seen only after the economy has reached a middle-level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asian Economic Papers is the property of MIT Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)