Effects of technology and innovation management and total factor productivity on the economic growth of China

Abstract

The paper aims to investigate relationships between technology and innovation management, total factor productivity and economic growth in China. By comparing the trends in total factor productivity growth of industrialized economies (i.e. OECD), this study intends to showcase the importance of total factor productivity progress in the Chinese economy. The study employs time series data of an annual basis for the period from 1977 to 2016 retrieved from the World Development Indicator. The study employs unit root test, cointegration test, fully modified least squares estimation method, canonical cointegrating regression and dynamic least squares estimation method to test the hypotheses. The results of the cointegrating regression analysis show that manufacturing growth leads to an increase of total factor productivity in the short-run in China. The findings of the study suggest that manufacturing (i.e. technology and product innovation) is positively related to the increase of total factor productivity in the short-run and total output growth in the long-run. The findings suggest that promoting technology and innovation management and supporting R&D subsidies may reduce the marginal cost of conducting R&D and increase the rate of technology and innovation management and R&D activity and therefore, the total factor productivity growth rate.