Professor Yu Miaojie has collaborated with doctoral candidate Xie Enze from Peking University's National School of Development on a paper titled ‘Has the income distribution between labor and capital improved in manufacturing enterprises? Analysis from the perspective of labor market competitiveness’. The paper has been accepted for publication in Journal of Management World, the top national management journal.
Abstract of the paper
A reasonable and orderly income distribution pattern is a fundamental requirement for promoting common prosperity in the new development stage. The distribution of income between labor and capital, as an important part of primary distribution, plays a decisive role in the final income distribution pattern. The strength of market power of enterprises in the labor market determines the distribution of income between enterprises and workers, and is key to understanding the share of labor income. This paper accurately estimates and analyzes the market power of manufacturing enterprises in the labor market using the China Enterprise Taxation Survey Database from 2007 to 2016. The study finds that: (1) Chinese enterprises have significant market power in the labor market. On average, only 44% of the value created by labor is allocated to workers. The stronger the market power of enterprises, the lower the share of labor income; (2) since the post-crisis period in the new century, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the level and heterogeneity of enterprise market power in the labor market have been declining, indicating an improvement in income distribution between labor and capital and an increase in resource allocation efficiency. This paper further corroborates the scientific nature of Marx's theory of surplus value, namely, that the relative strength of labor and capital market power determines the distribution of surplus value between labor and capital. In terms of policy formulation, this paper suggests strengthening regulation of enterprises' monopolistic behavior in the labor market, enhancing the mobility of labor in terms of occupation and region, and further deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises from the perspective of stripping social functions, and enhancing the competitive neutrality of factor markets. By improving the distribution of income between labor and capital, further liberation and development of productivity can ultimately be achieved.
About the authors
Professor Yu Miaojie, born in 1976, is a professor and doctoral supervisor. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Davis, USA. He currently serves as the deputy to the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), a special inspector of the State Committee of Supervisory of the PRC, a member of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress, a member of the Legislative Committee of Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress, and the Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee and President of Liaoning University.
He is a Fellow of the International Economic Association (IEA), a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, an Outstanding Youth Scientist in Beijing, a specially-appointed professor at Peking University, a member of the Economic and Trade Policy Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Commerce, a director of the ‘China-US Research Think Tank Alliance’ of the Ministry of Finance, an Honorary Professor at Irkutsk National University, Russia, and an International Advisory Director of the Russian Federation Finance University.
He is the Vice President of the China World Economy Society, Vice President of the China Quantitative Economics Society, Vice Chairman of the China Industrial Economics Society, Vice Chairman of the National Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, Vice Chairman of the Liaoning Provincial Federation of Social Sciences, a winner of NG Teng Fong / Sino Scholarship for Outstanding Youth, and a top 1% highly cited economist worldwide. He is also the only Chinese scholar to date to have won the Royal Economic Society Prize awarded by the UK.
He has been appointed as an expert consultant by the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the Counselor's Office of the State Council, and several local governments. He has been specially invited to the United Nations headquarters to deliver reports on China's economic development. He enjoys a special government allowance from the State Council.
Professor Yu's research focuses on international trade and China's economic development. He has published nearly 200 papers in top-tier and first-class journals at home and abroad, including Economic Journal, Review of Economics & Statistics, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Economic Research, and Journal of Management World. He has also authored or co-authored 27 monographs, textbooks, and commentary essays in Chinese, English, and German. He serves as the Associate Editor of the internationally renowned academic journal Review of International Economics, Executive Editor-in-Chief of the Ministry of Commerce's International Trade, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Liaoning University, Editor-in-Chief of Japanese Studies, and Executive Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chang'an University.
He has won the Ministry of Education's Outstanding Achievement Award in Philosophy and Social Sciences three times, the Outstanding Achievement Award in Philosophy and Social Sciences in Beijing, the Wu Yuzhang Humanities and Social Sciences Research Award, the Zhang Peigang Development Economics Award, and the An Zijie International Trade Research Award five times. His representative work Processing Trade and Enterprise Productivity has won the Liu Shibai Economics Award, the Hu Sheng Youth Academic Research Award, the National Trade Development Research Award, the Chinese Young Economist Award, and the Achievement Award of Liaoning Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Award.
Xie Enze is a doctoral candidate at the National School of Development of Peking University and a consultant at the Trade and Integration Division of the Research Department at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. His research findings have been published or accepted by journals including Journal of Management World, Economics Quarterly, Quantitative Economics and Technical Economics Research, and International Business. Additionally, several studies have undergone revisions and resubmissions in journals like the Journal of International Economics, Journal of Development Economics, and Financial Research.
About the journal
Founded in 1985, Journal of Management World is an academic journal in the field of economics and management, supervised and hosted by the Development Research Center of the State Council.
Journal of Management World is recognized by the National Press and Publication Administration as an academic journal and one of the ‘Top 100 Social Science Journals.’ It is also identified by the National Natural Science Foundation of China as an academic journal and receives key funding from the National Social Science Fund and is recognized as an excellent journal. In evaluations conducted by China's three major social science journal evaluation systems, it ranks first among academic journals in the management category. In evaluations by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, it is hailed as the sole "top-tier journal" in management studies. In terms of international influence, it ranks first among domestic management journals. In 2020, the Office of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the National People's Congress evaluated 185 sponsored journals annually, assessing criteria such as political orientation, editorial norms, significant initiatives, quality and effectiveness, and fund utilization. Among these, 24 journals were rated as ‘excellent’, including Journal of Management World.
On March 29, 2022, the Academic Achievement Evaluation Center of Renmin University of China and the Book and Material Center of Renmin University jointly released the ‘2021 Reproduction and Reprint Index Ranking.’ In the ‘Management Discipline Journals’ category, Journal of Management World ranked first in full-text reprints, and in the ‘Economics Discipline Journals’ category, it ranked second in full-text reprints.
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