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A provincial perspective on income inequality in urban China and the role of property and business income

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  • Lee, Jongchul

Abstract

This paper tries to investigate the role of non-wage income in explaining the income inequality in urban China. Our findings show that the contribution of income sources to inequality is different between the provinces with different extents of inequality. We find that in the coastal provinces, the contribution of wage income to inequality is decreasing, while the contribution of business and property income is increasing and getting more important; in contrast, in the western provinces, the role of wage income is larger than the other provinces, while the role of business and property income is smaller and remains unchanged. Our empirical results also suggest that the provinces with higher share of business and property income have high income inequality.

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  • Lee, Jongchul, 2013. "A provincial perspective on income inequality in urban China and the role of property and business income," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 140-150.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:26:y:2013:i:c:p:140-150
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2013.05.002
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Urban income inequality; Decomposition of income sources; Role of property and business income;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O56 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Oceania
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

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