Harry X. Wu
Current Position:
Research Professor of Economics
National School of Economics, Peking University
Research Interests:
Long-run economic growth; short-run economic volatility; productivity theory and
macroeconomic measurement; theory of labor input and labor quantitative and
compensation matrices; measuring capital stock and capital input; Chinese economy
Teaching Subjects (tentative):
Economic growth; macroeconomic measurement
Brief Bio:
Research Professor of Economics, National School of Development, Peking University. Associated with the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Japan, and The Conference Board, New York, and The Conference Board China Center as Research Director.
Specialized in growth and macroeconomic measurement, he has made significant contributions to the debate of the growth performance of the Chinese economy. He has devoted most of his academic life to pains-taking data constructions for the Chinese economy and currently developing two databases: China Growth Database (CGD) focusing on alternative indicators to official statistics and China Industrial Productivity Database (CIP/China KLEMS) as part of the World KLEMS initiative at the Harvard University. He worked closely with the late Professor Angus Maddison on China data at the Groningen Growth and Development Center, The Netherlands. He also led a group to translate a series of Maddison’s works into Chinese. He made a significant contribution to the China part of the Maddison World Economy Database and is currently working for the China part of The Conference Board Total Economy Database (TED) which is inherited from the Maddison Database. He is a member of the world-wide Maddison Project.
Received his BA and MA in Economics in 1982 and 1985 from Nankai School of Economics, Nankai University, China. From 1985 he worked for the Institute of Population and Economic Research at Nankai University and at the same time, joined a Beijing-based think tank, CITIC Institute of International Affairs and worked for China Young Economists Association as an associate editor of its official journal, Journal of Young Economist Forum. In 1988-93, as an UN/DTCD Fellow he conducted M.Phil and D.Phil studies at Waikato University, New Zealand. He continued his research as a post-doctoral fellow in University of Adelaide in 1993-1995 and then worked as a senior economist at East Asia Analytical Unit of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. From 1997 to 2008 he taught at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In 2009, he joined the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. He was the co-opted member of the 28th Council of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth (IARIW), and also served the editorial board of Review of Income and Wealth, Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies and The World Bank ICP Bulletin. He also worked as consultant or advisor in research projects commissioned by various government and international organizations, including China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Canadian International Development Research Centre, the Center for the Study of Sate and Society (CEDES), Argentina, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, and the Central Policy Unit of the Hong Kong SAR Government.
Selected Journal Articles:
• “In Quest of Institutional Interpretation of TFP Change – The Case of China”, Man and the Economy, forthcoming 6 (2), 2019
• “How Does the Productivity and Economic Growth Performance of China and India Compare in the Post-Reform Era, 1981-2011?” with K.L. Krishna, Deb Kusum Das and Pilu Chandra Das, International Productivity Monitor, Number 33, Fall 2017
• “Sustainability of China’s Growth Model: A Productivity Perspective”, China & World Economy, 1–29, Vol. 24 (5): 1-29, 2016
• “Changes in the Occupational Structure of Chinese Workforce in the Course of China’s Industrialization and Urbanization 1912-1952”, The Economic Review, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Vol. 67 (1): 47-68, 2016
• “Banking Structure and Industrial Growth: Evidence from China” with Justin Lin and Xifang Sun, Journal of Banking and Finance, Vol. 58: 131-143, 2015
• “Has China’s Fast Industrial Growth Been Efficient? ––An Industry-level Investigation with a Newly Constructed Data Set”, with Esther Y.P. Shea and Alice Shiu, Applied Economics, Vol. 47 (40): 4275-4298, 2015
• “The growth of ‘non-material services’ in China – Maddison’s ‘zero-labor-productivity-growth’ hypothesis revisited”, The Economic Review, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Vol. 65 (3): 266-283, 2014
• “How fast has Chinese industry grown? – The upward bias hypothesis revisited”, China Economic Journal, Vol. 6 (2-3): 80-102, 2013
• “Measuring Industry Level Employment, Output and Labor Productivity in The Chinese Economy, 1987-2008”, The Economic Review, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Vol. 64 (1): 42-61, 2013
• “Growth, Institutions, and Entrepreneurial Finance in China: A Survey”, with Carlo Milana, Strategic Change, Vol. 21 (3-4): 83-106, 2012
• “Deconstructing the BRICs: Structural Transformation and Aggregate Productivity Growth”, with Gaaitzen de Vries, Abdul A Erumban, Marcel P Timmer and Ilya B. Voskoboynikov, Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 40 (2): 211–227, 2012
• “The Real Growth of Chinese Industry Debate Revisited––Reconstructing China’s Industrial GDP in 1949-2008”, The Economic Review, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Vol. 62 (3): 209-224, 2011
• “Comparative Output and Labor Productivity in Manufacturing Between China, Japan, Korea and the United States for ca. 1935 – A Production-Side PPP Approach”, with Tangjun Yuan and Kyoji Fukao, Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 47 (3), 2010
• “More Costly or More Productive? Measuring Changes in Competitiveness in Manufacturing Across Regions in China”, with Vivian Chen and Bart van Ark, The Review of Income and Wealth, Series 55, Special Issue, 2009
• “Measuring Growth, Productivity, Income Distribution and Poverty in Transition Economies: Progress, Challenges and Prospects”, with Peter Saunders, The Review of Income and Wealth, Series 55, Special Issue, 2009
• “Measuring China’s Economic Performance”, with Angus Maddison, World Economics (by Economic Department, Oxford University) Vol. 9 (2), April-June, 2008
• “Measuring Productivity Performance by Industry in China 1980-2005”, International Productivity Monitor, Fall, 2007: 55-74
• “The Chinese GDP Growth Rate Puzzle: How Fast Has the Chinese Economy Grown?”, Asian Economic Papers (MIT Press), 2007, Vol. 6 (1): 1-24
• “Not all currency traders believe in unfettered free markets: Currency speculation and market intervention in Hong Kong,” The China Quarterly, June 2002, No.170: 441-458
• “How fast has Chinese industry grown? – Measuring the real output of Chinese industry”, The Review of Income and Wealth, 2002, Series 48 (2): 179-204
• China’s comparative labour productivity performance in manufacturing, 1952-1997: Catching up or falling behind? China Economic Review, 2001, Vol.12: 162-189
• Measuring China’s GDP level and growth performance: Alternative estimates and the implications, The Review of Income and Wealth, 2000, Series 46 (4): 475-499
• Reform of China’s foreign exchange regime and its implications in the light of the Asian financial crisis, MOCT-MOST Economic Policy in Transitional Economies, 1998, Vol.8 (3): 81-105
• Household income determination and regional income differential in rural China, with Xin Meng, Asia Economic Journal, 1998, Vol.12 (1): 65-88
• Economic reforms and endogenous technological change: The case of Chinese agriculture, with D.T. Nguyen, Asia-Pacific Economic Review, 1997, Vol.3 (1): 43-61
• Household grain consumption in China: Effects of income, price and urbanisation, with Yanrui Wu, Asia Economic Journal, 1997, Vol.11 (3): 325-342
• The direct impact of relocation of farm labour on Chinese grain production, with Xin Meng, China Economic Review, 1996, Vol.7 (2): 105-122
• Do Chinese farmers reinvest in grain production? with Xin Meng, China Economic Review, 1996, Vol.7 (2): 123-134
• Rural-to-urban labour migration in post reform China, with Li Zhou, Asian Pacific Economic Literature, 1996, Vol. 10 (2): 54-67
• Rural to Urban Migration in the People's Republic of China, The China Quarterly, September 1994, No. 139: 670-698
• The "Real" Chinese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) In The Pre-Reform Period 1952-1977, Review of Income and Wealth, 1993, Series 39 (1): 63-87
Recent Working Papers：
• “Towards an Institutional Interpretation of TFP Changes in China”, Center for Economic Institutions Working Paper Series, WP2019-4, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University 2019 (http://cei.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/English/publication/wp/wp-2019.html)
• “Accounting for the Role of Information and Communication Technology in China's Productivity Growth”, with David T. Liang, RIETI Discussion Papers 17-E-111, 2017 (https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/17e111.pdf)
• “Accounting for the Sources of Growth in the Chinese Economy”, RIETI Discussion Papers 15-E-048, 2015 (http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/publications/summary/15040012.html)
• “Reconstructing China's Supply-Use and Input-Output Tables in Time Series”, with Keiko Ito, RIETI Discussion Papers 15-E-004, 2015 (http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/publications/summary/15010005.html)
• “Constructing Annual Employment and Compensation Matrices and Measuring Labor Input in China”, with Ximing Yue and George G. Zhang, RIETI Discussion Papers 15-E-005, 2015 (http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/publications/summary/15010006.html)
• “Constructing China's Net Capital Stock and Measuring Capital Services in China, 1980-2010”, RIETI Discussion Papers 15-E-006, 2015 (http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/publications/summary/15010007.html)
• “China’s growth and productivity performance debate revisited – Accounting for China’s sources of growth in 1949-2012”, The Conference Board Economics Working Papers, EPWP1401, 2014
• “Accounting for Labor Input in Chinese Industry, 1949-2009”, with Ximing Yue, RIETI Discussion Paper Series, 12-E-065, 2012 (http://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/nts/12e065.html)
• “Measuring Gross Output, Value Added, Employment and Labor Productivity of the Chinese Economy at Industry Level, 1987-2008 – An Introduction to the CIP Database (Round 1.0)”, RIETI Discussion Paper Series, 12-E-066, 2012 (http://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/nts/12e066.html)
