John B. Knight

 

 

Curriculum Vitae

 

            Professor of Economics, University of Oxford,1996- .

 

            Head, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, 1999-2001.

           

            Director, Institute of Economics and Statistics, University of Oxford, 1998-9.

 

            Director of Graduate Studies in Economics, University of Oxford, 1997-8.

 

            Fellow and Tutor of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, 1967-2006; Vice-Principal, 2002-5.

 

            An Editor, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 1966-; Board Chair, 1999-.

 

Winner of the Richard A. Lester Prize for ‘the outstanding book in Labor Economics and Industrial Relations published in 2005’.

 

Founder-member, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford, 1991-.

 

            Research Adviser, Ministry of Labour, China, 1995-9 (through a British Council ‘Academic Link’).

 

Consultant: U.K. Department for International Development (2001), World Bank (1975-, frequently), ILO (1986), U.K. Overseas Development Administration (1990, 1992, 1992, 1994), House of Commons Expenditure Committee (1973-4), United Nations Committee for Development Planning (1987-8), African Development Bank (1992-3), WIDER (2003-4).

 

            Acting Director, Institute of Economics and Statistics, University of Oxford, 1990-1.

 

            Academic and Investment Bursar, St Edmund Hall, Oxford, 1984-92; 2002-.

 

            Chairman, Sub-faculty of Economics, University of Oxford, 1983-5.

 

Assistant research officer, subsequently research officer, subsequently senior research officer, Institute of Economics and Statistics, 1962-96.

 

            B.A. (subsequently M.A.) in the Economics Tripos, Cambridge University, 1962.

 

            B.A., 1960, Honorary doctorate, 2001, Natal University.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pubblications 1983/4 -

 

‘Educational Expansion and the Kuznets Effect’, American Economic Review, December

            1983, 1132-6 (with R.H.Sabot).

 

‘Caste Discrimination in the Indian Urban Labour Market’, Journal of Development      

             Economics, August 1984, 277-307 (with B.Banerjee).

 

‘Seniority Payments, Quit Rates and Internal Labour Markets in Britain and JapanOxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, February 1985, 19-32 (with P. Collier).

 

‘Earnings, Schooling, Ability and Cognitive Skills’, American Economic Review,  December 1985, 1016-29 (with M. Boissiere and R.H.Sabot).

 

‘Wage Structure and Labour Turnover’, Oxford Economic Papers, March 1986, 77-93 (with P. Collier).

 

‘The Williamson Diamond Mine, De Beers and the Colonial Office: A Case Study of the Quest for Control’, Journal of Modern African Studies, 1986, 423-46 (with H. Stevenson).

 

Editorial Introduction to the Special Issue on Wage Determination and Labour Market Inflexibility, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, February 1987, 1-8 (with K. Mayhew).

 

‘Educational Policy and Labour Productivity: an Output Accounting Exercise’, Economic Journal, March 1987, 199-214 (with R.H.Sabot).

 

‘Educational Expansion, Government Policy and Wage Compression’, Journal of Development Economics, August 1987, 201-21 (with R.H.Sabot).

 

‘The Rate of Return on Educational Expansion’, Economics of Education Review, 6,3, 1987, 255-62 (with R.H.Sabot).

 

‘A Comparative Analysis of South Africa as a Semi-Industrialised Developing Country’, Journal of Modern African Studies, 26, 3, 1988, 473-93.

 

Education, Work and Pay in East Africa, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989, 1-337 (with Arthur Hazlewood and others).

 

‘The Role of Occupation in the Determination of Wages’, Oxford Economic Papers, 41, 3, July 1989, 595-618 (with J. de Beyer).

 

‘Human Development: the Case for Renewed Emphasis’, Journal of Development Planning, 19, 1989, 9-40 (with Keith Griffin).

 

‘Educational Policy Issues in a Period of Stabilization and Structural Adjustment’, Journal of Development Planning, 19, 1989, 59-72.

 

Education, Productivity and Inequality, The East African Natural Experiment, World Bank/O.U.P., 1990, 1-445 (with R.H.Sabot).

 

Human Development and the International Development Strategy for the 1990s, Macmillan Press, 1990, 1-257 (editor, with Keith Griffin).

 

‘The Evolution of Development Economics’, in Current Issues in Development Economics, V.N. Balasubramanian and S.Lall (eds.), 1991, London: Macmillan, 10-22.

 

‘Public Sector Employment, Rent-Seeking and Economic Growth’, Economic Journal, September 1991, 1186-99 (with A.Gelb and R.H. Sabot).

 

‘The Determination of Urban Income Inequality in China’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, May 1991, 123-54 (with Lina Song).

 

Labor Market Discrimination in a Poor Urban Economy’, in N. Birdsall and R.H. Sabot (eds.), Labor Market Discrimination in Developing Countries, 1992, 55-74 (with R.H. Sabot), reprinted from Journal of Development Studies, October 1982.

 

‘Job Discrimination and Untouchability’, in N. Birdsall and R.H. Sabot (eds.), Labor Market           

            Discrimination in Developing Countries, 1992, 171-95 (with B.Banerjee).

 

‘Industrialisation and Public Enterprises in Africa’, with S.Lall, F.Stewart and S. Wangwe (eds.), Alternative Development Strategies for Africa, 1992, London: Macmillan, 321-36.

 

‘Is the Rate of Return on Primary Schooling Really 26 Percent?’, Journal of African Economies, 1,2, 1992, 192-205 (with R.H. Sabot and D.C. Hovey).

 

‘The Length of Life and the Standard of Living: Economic Influences on Premature Death in China’, Journal of Development Studies, 30, 1, October, 1993, 58-91 (with Lina Song).

 

‘The Spatial Contribution to Income Inequality in Rural China’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 17, 2 June 1993, 195-213 (with Lina Song).

 

‘Workers in China’s Rural Industries’, in Keith Griffin and Zhao Renwei (eds.), The

            Distribution       of Income in China, London: Macmillan, 1993, 173-215 (with Lina

            Song).

 

‘Why Urban Wages Differ in China’, in Keith Griffin and Zhao Renwei (eds.), The Distribution of Income in China, London: Macmillan, 1993, 216-284 (with Lina Song).

 

‘The Determinants of Educational Attainment in China’, in Keith Griffin and Zhao Renwei (eds.), The Distribution of Income in China, London: Macmillan, 1993, 285-330 (with Li Shi).

 

‘Labour Markets’, Chapter 9 of African Development Bank, Economic Integration in Southern Africa, Volume 3, 1993, 275-95.

 

‘Is China Egalitarian?’, in Oliver Morrissey and Tim Lloyd (eds.), Poverty, Inequality and

            Rural    Development, London: Macmillan, 1994, 89-99.

 

‘Price Scissors and Intersectoral Resource Transfers: Who Paid for Industrialization in

            China?’, Oxford Economic Papers, 47, February 1995, 117-35.

 

‘An Analysis of Racial Wage Discrimination in South Africa’, in William Darity (ed.), Economics and Discrimination, Vol. II, the International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, 1995, 109-36 (with M.D. McGrath), reprinted from Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 1977.

 

‘Labour Market Discrimination in a Poor Urban Economy’, in William Darity (ed.), Economics and Discrimination, Vol. II, The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, 1995, 137-57 (with R.H.Sabot), reprinted from Journal of Development Studies, 1982.

 

‘Caste Discrimination in the Indian Urban Labour Market’, in William Darity (ed.), Economics and Discrimination, Vol. II, The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, 1995, 58-88 (with B. Banerjee), reprinted for Journal of Development Economics, 1984.

 

Editorial Introduction to the Special Issue on Human Capital in Economic Development, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 58, 1, February 1996, 5-8.

 

‘Educational Attainment and The Rural-Urban Divide in China’, Oxford Bulletin of

            Economics and Statistics, 58, 1, February 1996, 81-115 (with Li Shi).

 

‘Primary Education as an Input into Post-Primary Education: a Neglected Benefit’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 58, 1, February 1996, 207-17 (with S.Appleton and J. Hoddinott).

 

‘Towards a Labour Market in China’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, February 1996, 97-117 (with Lina Song).

 

‘Cumulative Causation and Inequality among Villages in China’, Oxford Development Studies, 25, 2, 1997, 149-72 (with Li Shi).

 

‘Labour Market Issues in Zimbabwe: Lessons for South Africa’, South African Journal of Economics, 65, 1, 1997, 69-98.

 

‘Labour Market Policies and Outcomes in Post-Independence Zimbabwe: Lessons for South Africa’, in L.Petersson (ed.), Post-Apartheid Southern Africa. Economic Challenges and Policies for the Future, London: Routledge, 1998, 201-26.

 

‘The Diamond Boom, Expectations and Economic Management in Botswana’, in P.Collier and J.Gunning and associates (eds.), Trade Shocks in Developing Countries, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999, 303-50 (with Catharine Hill).

 

‘Fiscal Decentralisation: Incentives, Redistribution and Reform in China’, Oxford Development Studies, 27, 1, February 1999, 5-32.(with Li Shi).

 

The Rural-Urban Divide. Economic Disparities and Interactions in China, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999 1-350 (with Lina Song).

 

‘Chinese Rural Migrants in Urban Enterprises: Three Perspectives’, Journal of Development Studies, 35,3, February 1999 73-104 (with Lina Song).

 

‘Employment Constraints and Sub-optimality in Chinese Enterprises’, Oxford Economic Papers, 51, 2, April, 1999, 284-99 (with Lina Song).

 

‘A Spatial Analysis of Wages and Incomes in Urban China: Divergent Means, Convergent Inequality’, in Carl Riskin, Zhao Renwei and Li Shi (eds), China’s Retreat for Equality. Income Distribution and Economic Transition, Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2001, 133-66, (with Li Shi and Zhao Renwei).

 

‘Economic Growth, Economic Reform, and Rising Inequality in China’, in Carl Riskin, Zhao Renwei and Li Shi (eds), China’s Retreat from Equality. Income Distribution and Economic Transition, Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2001, 84-124, (with Lina Song).

 

‘Towards a Labour Market in China’, in Ross Garnaut and Yiping Huang (eds), Growth Without Miracles. Readings on the Chinese Economy in the Era of Reform, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001 (with Lina Song), 308-330, reprinted from Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 1996.

 

The Economic Decline of Zimbabwe. Neither Growth Nor Equity, 2001, London: Palgrave, 1-330 (with Carolyn Jenkins).

 

‘Labour Retrenchment in China: Determinants and Consequences’, China Economic Review, 13, 2002, 252-75 (with S.Appleton, L. Song and Q. Xia).

                                               

 ‘Chinese Peasant Choices: Farming, Rural Industry or Migration?’, Oxford Development     

             Studies, 31, 2, 2003, 123-47 (with Lina Song)

 

‘The Role of Education in Facilitating Risk-taking and Innovation in Agriculture’, Journal of

              Development Studies, 39, 6, August 2003, 1-22 (with Sharada Weir and Tassew

              Woldehanna).

 

‘Increasing Wage Inequality in China: Extent, Elements and Evaluation’, Economics of Transition, 11, 4, 2003, 597-619 (with Lina Song).

 

‘Contrasting Paradigms: Segmentation and Competitiveness in the formation of the Chinese Labour market’, Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies , 2, 3, 2004, 185-205 (with S.Appleton, L. Song and Q. Xia).

 

‘Unemployment in South Africa: the Nature of the Beast’, World Development, 32, 3, March 2004, 391-408 (with Geeta Kingdon).

 

‘Job Mobility of Residents and Migrants in Urban China’, Journal of Comparative Economics, 32, 2004, 637-60 (with Linda Yueh).

 

‘Race and the Incidence of Unemployment in South Africa’, Review of Development Economics, 8, 2, May 2004, 198-222 (with Geeta Kingdon)

 

‘Externality Effects of Education: Dynamics of the Adoption and Diffusion of an Innovation in Rural Ethiopia’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 53, 1, 2004, 93-114 (with Sharada Weir).

 

Towards a Labour Market in China, 2005, 1-258, Oxford: Oxford University Press (with Lina Song).

 

‘Wages, Firm Profitability, and Labor Market Segmentation in Urban China’, China Economic Review, 16, 3, 2005, 205-228 (with Li Shi).

 

‘Why do Girls in Rural China have Lower School Enrolment?’, World Development, 34, 9, 2006, 1639-53 (with L. Song and S. Appleton).

 

‘Divergent Means and Convergent Inequality of Incomes among the Provinces and Cities of China’, in R. Kanbur, A. Venables and G. Wan (eds.), Spatial Disparities in Human Development: Perspectives from Asia, Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2006, 133-57 (with Li Shi and Zhao Renwei).

 

‘Unemployment Duration and Earnings of Re-employed Workers in Urban China’, China Economic Review, 17, 2, 2006, 103-19 (with Li Shi).

 

‘The Measurement of Unemployment when Unemployment is High’, Labour Economics, 13, 2006, 291-315 (with Geeta Kingdon).

 

‘How High is Urban Unemployment in China?’ Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies,4, 2, 2006, 91-107 (with Jinjun Xue).

 

‘How Flexible are Wages in Response to Local Unemployment in South Africa’, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 59, 3, 2006, 471-95.

 

‘Three Poverties in Urban China’, Review of Development Economics, 10, 3, 2006, 367-87 (with Li Shi).

 

‘The Rural-Urban Divide and the Evolution of Political Economy in China’ (with Li Shi and Lina Song), in J. Boyce, S. Cullenberg, P. Pattanaik, and R. Pollin (eds.), Human Development in the Era of Globalisation. Essays in Honor of Keith B. Griffin, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2006, 44-63.

 

‘Subjective Well-being Poverty versus Income Poverty and Capabilities Poverty?’, Journal of Development Studies, 42, 7, 2006, 1199-224 (with Geeta Kingdon).

 

‘Community, Comparisons and Subjective Well-being in a Divided Society,  Economic Behavior and Organisation, 64, 2007, 69-90 (with Geeta Kingdon).

 

‘The South African Labour Market, 1995-2003: Progress, Problems and Policies’, Journal of African Economies,16, 5, 2007, 813-48 (with Geeta Kingdon).

 

‘Production Externalities of Education: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia’, Journal of African Economies, 16, 1, 2007, 134-65 (with Sharada Weir).

 

 

Accepted for publication

 

‘China’s Emerging Wage Structure, 1995-2002’, forthcoming in B. Gustafsson, T. Sicular and Li Shi (eds), Inequality and Public Policy in China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (with Lina Song).

 

‘The Economics of Communist Party Membership: The Curious Case of Rising Numbers and Wage Premium during China’s Transition’ , forthcoming in Journal of Development Studies (with S. Appleton, L. Song and Q. Xia).

 

‘The Role of Social Capital in the Labour Market in China , forthcoming in Economics of Transition (with Linda Yueh).

 

‘Aspirations, Adaptation and Subjective Well-being of Rural-urban Migrants in China’, forthcoming in an edited book (with Ramani Gunatilaka).

 

‘Reform, growth and Inequality in China’, forthcoming in Asian Economic Policy Review.

 

 

Working  papers

 

‘Urban Insiders versus Rural Outsiders: Complementarity or Competition in China’s Urban Labour Market?’ (with Linda Yueh).

 

‘Subjective Well-being and its Determinants in Rural China’, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, Discussion Paper 334, 2007 (with Lina Song and Ramani Gunatilaka)

 

‘Great Expectations? The Subjective Well-being of Rural-urban Migrants in China’, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, Discussion Paper 322 (with Ramani Gunatilaka)

 

China, South Africa and the Lewis Model’, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, CSAE Working Paper 12, 2007.

 

‘Education and the Poverty Trap in Rural China’, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, CSAE Working Paper, 2007 (with Li Shi and Deng Quheng).

 

‘Can the Augmented Solow Model Explain China’s Economic Growth? A Cross-country Panel Data Analysis’, University of Oxford, Discussion Paper 380, 2008 (with Sai Ding).

 

‘The Curious Case of Son Preference and Household Incomes in Rural China’, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, CSAE Working Paper, 2007 (with Li Shi and Deng Quheng).

 

‘The Rural-Urban Divide in China: Income but not Happiness?’, forthcoming (with Ramani Gunatilaka).

 

 

Current research

 

Currently participating in three major international research programmes: one (with reference to China and South Africa) on poverty in developing countries (funded by the UK ESRC), another (with reference to a national household survey for China conducted in 2002) on income distribution, labour markets, and poverty in China (funded by the Ford Foundation and several Aid Agencies), and the third (mainly with reference to China) on education for pro-poor development (funded by the UK DfID).

 

Also, a project on economic growth in China (funded by the Leverhulme Trust; Research Officer: Dr Sai Ding).

 

 

Research Students

 

Doctoral students 2007/8: Nina Fenton, Gaurav Nayyar, Glenn Goldsmith, Charl Pistorius, Rulof Burger.

 

Owing to my impending retirement I am not accepting any further research students.