Profitability of China's industrial firms (1978–2006)

This paper measures nine indicators of profitability for the Chinese industrial firms during the period 1978–2006. In light of the results, it examines the issues such as the trend change of the Chinese profitability, difference of profitability between various categories of firms, impacts of inflation on the profitability calculated using the corporate accounting data, and comparison of profitability among China, Japan and US. Evidence found by the paper indicates the micro-economic underpinnings for the Chinese economic boom in recent years.