Abstract
This paper studies labour share of income and rent sharing in Chinese listed firms. I present an increasing trend of labour share from 1998-2021 using CSMAR data for public firms listed in China, which is a reversed result compared with the documented decreasing trend in developed economies. During the same period, market concentration decreased in major sectors. The empirical evidence therefore supports the superstar model in which falling concentration correlates with rising labour shares. I also test the role of technology in determining labour share and find higher intangible assets growth leads to lower labour share, and the result is robust to an instrument variable approach. This paper contributes to the rich literature in labour share, which is currently still limited in developing or transitional economies.