Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:48:50.719Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Resource Dependence and Human Capital Investment in China*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2015

Jing Vivian Zhan ,
Haiyan Duan  and
Ming Zeng
Jing Vivian Zhan*
Affiliation:
Department of Government & Public Administration, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Haiyan Duan
Affiliation:
School of Political Science and Public Management, East China University of Political Science and Law
Ming Zeng
Affiliation:
School of Public Administration, Nanchang University.
*
Email: [email protected] (corresponding author).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Countries endowed with rich natural resources such as fuels and minerals often fall behind in human development. Does resource endowment hamper human capital development in China, a country that hosts rich resources in many of its regions? Through cross-regional and longitudinal statistical analysis and field research in selected mining areas, this study finds that resource dependence reduces government expenditure on human capital-enhancing public goods including education and health care. The local economic structure and reduced demand for labour, the shifting of government responsibilities onto mining enterprises, and the myopia of local residents and officials all discourage the local governments in resource-rich regions from investing in human capital.

摘要

国际观察发现资源禀赋 — 尤其是石油和矿产资源 — 往往伴随着落后的人力资本发展。中国不是一个典型的矿业国家, 但很多地区拥有十分丰沛的矿产资源; 那么, 资源对于中国的人力资本发展是否也有阻碍作用呢? 通过跨地区和年份的数据分析以及对矿业地区的田野考察, 本研究发现地方对资源的依赖程度越高, 在教育和卫生领域的公共财政投入就越少。而资源型地区人力资本投入匮乏有三大重要原因: 一是资源型经济结构减少对本地劳动力的需求; 二是政府职能长期由企业分担, 造成地方政府对教育和医疗的投入不足; 三是资源型地区的居民和官员的短视心理造成了对人力资本的忽视。

Keywords

Chinacurse of natural resourceshuman capitallocal public goods provisionmixed research method中国资源诅咒人力资本地方公共服务混合研究方法
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 221 , March 2015 , pp. 49 - 72
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Project ID 456712) and National Social Science Foundation of China (Project ID 13BGL120).

References

Auty, Richard M. 1993. Sustaining Development in Mineral Economies: The Resource Curse Thesis. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Blanco, Luisa, and Grier, Robin. 2012. “Natural resource dependence and the accumulation of physical and human capital in Latin America.” Resources Policy 37(3), 281–295.Google Scholar
Caselli, Francesco, and Michael, Guy. 2009. “Do oil windfalls improve living standards? Evidence from Brazil.” NBER Working Paper No. 15550, http://www.nber.org/papers/w15550.pdf. Accessed 21 July 2012.Google Scholar
Collier, Paul, and Hoeffler, Anke. 2005. “Resource rents, governance, and conflict.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 49(4), 625–633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corden, Warner Max. 1984. “Booming sector and Dutch disease economics: survey and consolidation.” Oxford Economic Papers New Series 36(3), 359–380.Google Scholar
Corden, Warner Max, and Neary, J. Peter. 1982. “Booming sector and de-industrialisation in a small open economy.” The Economic Journal 92(368), 825–848.Google Scholar
Davis, Graham A. 1995. “Learning to love the Dutch disease: evidence from the mineral economies.” World development 23(10), 1765–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Du, Yuhong. 2000. Jiaoyu fazhan bupingheng yanjiu (Study on the Unbalanced Development of Education). Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Fearon, James D., and Laitin, David D.. 2003. “Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war.” American Political Science Review 97(1), 75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Thomas L. 2012. “Pass the books. Hold the oil,” New York Times, 10 March, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/friedman-pass-the-books-hold-the-oil.html?_r=0. Accessed 30 March 2014.Google Scholar
Gylfason, Thorvaldur. 2001. “Natural resources, education, and economic development.” European Economic Review 45(4–6), 847–859.Google Scholar
Gylfason, Thorvaldur, Herbertsson, Tryggvi Thor and Zoega, Gylfi. 1999. “A mixed blessing: natural resources and economic growth.” Macroeconomic Dynamics 3(02), 204–225.Google Scholar
James, Alex, and Aadland, David. 2010. “The curse of natural resources: an empirical investigation of US counties.” Resource and Energy Economics 33(2), 440–453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Ronald N. 2006. “Economic growth and natural resources: does the curse of natural resources extend to the 50 US states?” In Halvorsen, R. and Layton, D.F. (eds.), Explorations in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 122–136.Google Scholar
Libman, Alexander. 2013. “Natural resources and sub-national economic performance: does sub-national democracy matter?” Energy Economics 37, 82–99.Google Scholar
Litvack, James M., and Oates, Wallace E.. 1970. “Group size and the output of public goods: theory and application to state-local finance in the United States.” Public Finance 25(1), 42–62.Google Scholar
Mahdavy, Hossein. 1970. “The patterns and problems of economic development in rentier states: the case of Iran.” In Cook, M.A. (ed.), Studies in Economic History of the Middle East: from the Rise of Islam to the Present Day. London: Oxford University Press, 428–467.Google Scholar
Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge, and McNab, Robert M.. 2003. “Fiscal decentralization and economic growth.” World Development 31(9), 1597–1616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Finance of the PRC. 2000–2010. Zhongguo caizheng nianjian 2000–2010 (Finance Yearbook of China 2000–2010). Beijing: China State Finance Magazine.Google Scholar
Ministry of Land and Resources of the PRC. 2000–2010. Zhongguo guotu ziyuan tongji nianjian 2000–2010 (China Land and Resources Statistical Yearbook 2000–2010). Beijing: Geological Publishing House.Google Scholar
NBS (National Bureau of Statistics of China). 2000–2006. Zhongguo renkou tongji nianjian 2000–2006 (China Population Statistics Yearbook 2000–2006). Beijing: China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
NBS. 2000–2010. Zhongguo tongji nianjian 2000–2010 (China Statistical Yearbook 2000–2010). Beijing: China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
NBS. 2007–2010. Zhongguo renkou he jiuye tongji nianjian 2007–2010 (China Population and Employment Statistics Yearbook 2007–2010). Beijing: China Statistics Press.Google Scholar
Pineda, José, and Rodríguez, Francisco. 2010. Curse or Blessing? Natural Resources and Human Development. New York: United Nations Development Programme.Google Scholar
Qian, Yingyi, and Xu, Chenggang. 1993. “The M-form hierarchy and China's economic reform.” European Economic Review 37, 541–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reno, William. 1998. Warlord Politics and African States. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Ross, Michael L. 1999. “The political economy of the resource curse.” World Politics 51(2), 297–322.Google Scholar
Ross, Michael L. 2001. “Does oil hinder democracy?” World Politics 53(3), 325–361.Google Scholar
Ross, Michael L. 2003. “The natural resource curse: how wealth can make you poor.” In Bannon, I. and Paul, C. (eds.), Natural Resources and Violent Conflict: Options and Actions. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 17–42.Google Scholar
Sachs, Jeffrey D., and Warner, Andrew M.. 1995. “Natural resource abundance and economic growth.” NBER Working Paper No. 5398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shao, Shuai, and Qi, Zhongying. 2008. “Xibu diqu de nengyuan kaifa yu jingji zengzhang – jiyu ‘ziyuan zuzhou’ jiashuo de shizheng fenxi” (Energy development and economic growth in western China: an empirical analysis based on the resource curse hypothesis). Jingji yanjiu 4, 147–160.Google Scholar
Shirk, Susan L. 1993. The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spengler, Joseph John (ed.). 1960. Natural Resources and Growth. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Stijns, Jean-Philippe. 2006. “Natural resource abundance and human capital accumulation.” World Development 34(6), 1060–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varangis, Panos, Akiyama, Takamasa and Mitchell, Donald. 1995. Managing Commodity Booms – and Busts. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Wang, Wen, Zheng, Xinye and Zhao, Zhirong Jerry. 2012. “Fiscal reform and public education spending: a quasi-natural experiment of fiscal decentralization in China.” Publius: the Journal of Federalism 42(2), 334–356.Google Scholar
Wu, Alfred M., and Wang, Wen. 2013. “Determinants of expenditure decentralization: evidence from China.” World Development 46, 176–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, Kangning, and Wang, Jian. 2006. “Ziran ziyuan fengyu chengdu yu jingji fazhan shuiping guanxi de yanjiu” (An empirical study of a linkage between natural resource abundance and economic development). Jingji yanjiu 1, 78–89.Google Scholar
Zeng, Ming, and Xia, Yulin. 2013. “Shehui wending zhong de ziyuan zuzhou xianxiang: yi X kuangqu weili” (The resource curse in stability maintanance: a case study of X mining zone). Wuhan daxue xuebao 66(5), 60–66.Google Scholar
Zeng, Ming, and Zhan, Jing. 2013. Caizheng zhuanyi zhifu yu difang zhengfu gonggong zhichu qingxiang: lilun, shizheng yu zhengce jianyi (Fiscal Transfer and Local Public Expenditure: Theories, Empirics, and Policy Suggestions). Beijing: People's Publishing House.Google Scholar
Zhan, Jing Vivian. 2013. “Natural resources, local governance, and social instability: a comparison of two counties in China.” The China Quarterly 213, 78–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar