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Accounting For Urban China'S Rising Income Inequality: The Roles Of Labor Market, Human Capital, And Marriage Market Factors

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  • Shuaizhang Feng
  • Gaojie Tang

Abstract

This paper analyzes China's rising family income inequality since the early 1990s when the urban labor market started its transformation from a centrally controlled to a market‐driven one. We document the trends in income inequality over the period of 1992–2009 using the Urban Household Survey data, and adopt the approach recently proposed by Eika et al. (2014) to decompose changes in income inequality. We find that labor market factors accounted for about three‐quarters of the overall increases in income inequality while falling marriage rate contributed the other quarter. Changes in human capital levels and marital assortativeness have not contributed to the rising inequality. (JEL D31, I26, J12)

Suggested Citation

  • Shuaizhang Feng & Gaojie Tang, 2019. "Accounting For Urban China'S Rising Income Inequality: The Roles Of Labor Market, Human Capital, And Marriage Market Factors," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(2), pages 997-1015, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:57:y:2019:i:2:p:997-1015
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12748
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    2. Yu, Mingzhe & Deng, Xin, 2021. "The Inheritance of Marketization Level and Regional Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
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    4. Yidan Liang, 2023. "Capital and labour distortion in China: a systematic literature review using HistCite," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(2), pages 1759-1784, June.
    5. Liu, De-chih, 2021. "The Unemployment Invariance Hypothesis: Does the Gender Matter?," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 62(2), pages 178-199, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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