This paper uses age-related productivity gaps to analyze the Lewis turning point in China. The age-related productivity gap implies that under same wage rate, older and less productive rural laborers working in cities...This paper uses age-related productivity gaps to analyze the Lewis turning point in China. The age-related productivity gap implies that under same wage rate, older and less productive rural laborers working in cities will earn less than the reservation wage. Thus, they may elect instead to return to the countryside. Therefore, this paper argues that while the supply of younger, high-productivity migrant workers fails demand and Lewis turning point emerges, there still exists a high volume of lower-productivity rural surplus labor.展开更多
文摘This paper uses age-related productivity gaps to analyze the Lewis turning point in China. The age-related productivity gap implies that under same wage rate, older and less productive rural laborers working in cities will earn less than the reservation wage. Thus, they may elect instead to return to the countryside. Therefore, this paper argues that while the supply of younger, high-productivity migrant workers fails demand and Lewis turning point emerges, there still exists a high volume of lower-productivity rural surplus labor.