Topic: Tapping into Excess Capacity: Chinese Machinery Export and African Industrialization

Speaker: Lin Yatang, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Time: December 26, 2024, 14:00

Venue: EMS 440

Abstract:

The recent decades have witnessed a remarkable surge in machinery imports from China to African economies. Our study aims to examine the causes and local implications of these imports. Notably, we find that China's efforts to decommission excess capacity have been a major driving force behind this trend. City industries that face urgent capacity elimination requirements are more inclined to export machinery equipment to emerging markets. By using instrumental variables based on China's annual lists of eliminated capacity, we discover mixed effects of machinery imports on African economies. While they contribute to increased output and value-added in recipient industries that use these machines for production, the impact on employment and sectoral linkages is limited. Treated regions experience a shift in employment from agriculture to services and high-skilled sectors.

Guest Bio:

Lin Yatang, who obtained her Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics in 2017, is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her research areas include urban economics, environmental economics, and transportation economics. Her work has been published in international journals such as American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Journal of Urban Economics, Review of Finance, Journal of Comparative Economics, Production and Operations Management, and Nature Climate Change.