Firm performance and economic development: Evidence from a unique dataset of China.

Using a unique firm‐level dataset from 2007 to 2015, we investigated the characteristics and trends of China's economic development from the perspective of firm performance. We found that China's economic development in the recent decade has made the following achievements: less reliance on investment for growth, enterprises' deleveraging, a more competitive market environment and improvement in labour income distribution. Yet, it still faced severe challenges, such as increasing tax and fee burdens, high employment pressure, low total factor productivity (TFP) growth rate, and how to realize the coordinated development of the economy and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]