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Income Inequality During China's Economic Transition

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Author Info

  • Dwayne Benjamin
  • Loren Brandt
  • John Giles
  • Sangui Wang

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the evolution of income inequality in China from 1987 to 2002, employing three series of data sets. Our focus is on both urban and rural inequality, as well as the urban-rural gap, with the objective of summarizing several “first-order” empirical patterns concerning the trajectory of inequality through the reform period. We document significant increases of inequality within China’s urban and rural populations. In rural areas, increased inequality is primarily related to the dis-equalizing role of non-agricultural self-employment income and slow growth in agricultural income from the mid-1990s onward. Poverty persists, and tied in part to slow growth in agricultural commodity prices. In urban areas, the declining role of subsidies and entitlements, the increase in wage inequality and the layoffs during restructuring, have fueled the growth in inequality within urban areas. Poverty levels, however, are very low. We find that spatial (regional) dimensions of inequality are significant, but are much less important than commonly believed for both the urban and rural populations, and for differences between urban and rural areas. Accounting for urban-rural reclassification, which otherwise exaggerates the rising urban-rural gap, we find a relatively stable ratio of urban to rural incomes. This hides some geographical variation, however: The urban-rural gap is increasing more rapidly in interior provinces, where SOE’s had a more dominant role in economic activity in urban areas, than in coastal provinces where the non-state sector was more important earlier in the reform period.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by University of Toronto, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number tecipa-238.

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Length: 54 pages
Date of creation: 01 Jul 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-238

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Related research

Keywords: China; Income Distribution; Poverty; Inequality; welfare; transition; development;

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References

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  1. Keith Griffin & Azizur Rahman Khan & Carl Riskin, 1999. "Income Distribution in Urban China during the Period of Economic Reform and Globalization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 296-300, May.
  2. Shorrocks, Anthony F, 1983. "The Impact of Income Components on the Distribution of Family Incomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 98(2), pages 311-26, May.
  3. Dwayne Benjamin & Loren Brandt & Paul Glewwe & Li Guo, 2000. "Markets, Human Capital, and Inequality: Evidence from Rural China," Working Papers benjamin-00-01, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
  4. Dwayne Benjamin & Loren Brandt & John Giles, 2003. "The Evolution of Income Inequality in Rural China," Working Papers benjamin-04-01, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
  5. Ravallion, Martin & Shaohua Chen, 2004. "China's (uneven) progress against poverty," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3408, The World Bank.
  6. Loren Brandt & Dwayne Benjamin, 1999. "Markets and Inequality in Rural China: Parallels with the Past," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 292-295, May.
  7. Xin Meng, 2004. "Economic Restructuring and Income Inequality in Urban China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 50(3), pages 357-379, 09.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Ahrens, Joachim & Jünemann, Patrick, 2010. "Transitional institutions, institutional complementarities and economic performance in China: A 'Varieties of Capitalism' approach," Discourses in Social Market Economy 2010-11, OrdnungsPolitisches Portal (OPO).
  2. Honge Gong & Andrew Leigh & Xin Meng, 2012. "Intergenerational Income Mobility In Urban China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 58(3), pages 481-503, 09.
  3. Abdelkrim Araar, 2008. "On the Decomposition of Polarization Indices: Illustrations with Chinese and Nigerian Household Surveys," Cahiers de recherche 0806, CIRPEE.
  4. repec:ese:iserwp:2007-11 is not listed on IDEAS
  5. Wing Thye Woo, 2007. "The Challenges of Governance Structure, Trade Disputes and Natural Environment to China's Growth," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0349, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
  6. Ankita Mishra & Ranjan Ray, 2010. "Multi Dimensional Deprivation in the Awakening Giants: A Comparative Study on Micro Data," Monash Economics Working Papers 53-10, Monash University, Department of Economics.
  7. Benjamin, Dwayne & Brandt, Loren & Giles, John T., 2006. "Inequality and Growth in Rural China: Does Higher Inequality Impede Growth?," IZA Discussion Papers 2344, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  8. Saccone Donatella, 2012. "Income Concentration in China: What Role for Education?," Department of Economics Working Papers 201202, University of Turin.
  9. Zheng Song & Kjetil Storesletten & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2011. "Growing Like China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(1), pages 196-233, February.
  10. Meng, Xin & Shen, Kailing & Xue, Sen, 2010. "Economic Reform, Education Expansion, and Earnings Inequality for Urban Males in China, 1988-2007," IZA Discussion Papers 4919, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  11. Stephen P. Jenkins & John Micklewright, 2007. "New Directions in the Analysis of Inequality and Poverty," Working Papers 71, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
  12. Saccone Donatella, 2008. "Educational Inequality and Educational Poverty. the Chinese Case in the Period 1975-2004," Department of Economics Working Papers 200808, University of Turin.
  13. Saccone Donatella, 2011. "Potenze economiche emergenti: Cina e India a confronto.Istruzione e diseguaglianze," Department of Economics Working Papers 201113, University of Turin.
  14. Céline Bonnefond & Matthieu Clément, 2012. "An analysis of income polarisation in rural and urban China," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 15-37, June.
  15. Chen, Xi & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2009. "The Distribution of Income and Well-Being in Rural China: A Survey of Panel Data Sets, Studies and New Directions," MPRA Paper 20587, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  16. Chen, Yuanyuan & Feng, Shuaizhang, 2009. "Parental Education and Wages: Evidence from China," IZA Discussion Papers 4218, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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