First double degree PhD graduate FEB and Chinese Academy of Sciences: Jiang Xuemei

Jiang Xuemei is the first graduate of the double degree PhD programme of the Management School of the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (GUCAS) in Beijing and the research institute and graduate school SOM of FEB. She will be awarded her PhD on Monday 30 May (11am) for her research on regional economic development in China, using input-output databases.

The defense ceremony will be attended by the initiators of the cooperation between CAS and FEB, Prof. Zhao Hong (CAS) and Prof. Henk Sol, founding dean of FEB.

The double degree PhD programme was established in 2006 and 10 students have been enrolled sofar. Following the defense of Jiang, the 3rd Sino-Netherlands workshop on input-output economics [PDF] will be held with participants from China, Brazil and The Netherlands.

Jiang's thesis: applications of Chinese regional input-output tables

China has a long tradition in compiling Input-Output (IO) tables at the regional level. For 30 of its 31 provinces, survey-based IO tables have been constructed by regional statistical bureaus. These bureaus follow a uniform compilation scheme prescribed by the National Statistical Bureau, which yields a unique set of harmonized tables. Jiang's thesis uses the regional IO tables for 1997 and 2002, in two ways.

In the statistical applications, the wealth of data is used to evaluate existing methods for compiling IO tables, if data cannot be collected by means of full surveys among firms. Furthermore, some novel methods are proposed and tested against popular alternatives. Some of the results are particularly relevant for data construction efforts in China (a dynamic economy characterized by large disparities between regions), whereas other results have a more general validity.

In the economic applications, China’s huge regional disparities in labor productivity levels and in the presence of ICT-production activities are analyzed. Existing shift-share techniques and structural decomposition analyses are adapted (using insights from index number theory) to quantify the contributions to these disparities of several structural differences between regional economies. The results suggest that the different positions Chinese provinces have in global value chains play an important role in the dispersion of labor productivity levels. Being close to regional markets for ICT products appears relatively unimportant in explaining the strong geographical concentration of these industries.

Curriculum vitae and thesis defense

Xuemei Jiang (China, 1982) studied management at the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. She conducted her PhD research at the Faculty of Economics and Business. Jiang will be awarded her PhD on 30 May (11.00am); her thesis supervisor is prof.dr. H.W.A. Dietzenbacher and the thesis title: Statistical and economic applications of Chinese regional input-output tables. Jiang is now researcher at the Center for Forecasting Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.