IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cuf/wpaper/518.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Regional Inequality in Contemporary China

Author

Listed:
  • Qinghua Zhang

    (Peking University)

  • Heng-fu Zou

    (CEMA, Central University of Finance and Economics)

Abstract

This paper surveys the literature on regional inequality in contemporary China. It reviews the trend of convergence or divergence of real GDP or income across different regions in China since 1952, and examines the degree of regional inequality using different measurements. It then discusses various factors that may cause the increasing regional inequality and the empirical evidences correspondingly. Finally it gives policy implications.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Qinghua Zhang & Heng-fu Zou, 2011. "Regional Inequality in Contemporary China," CEMA Working Papers 518, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:cuf:wpaper:518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://down.aefweb.net/WorkingPapers/w518.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Chen, Jian & Fleisher, Belton M., 1996. "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 141-164, April.
    3. Robert J. Barro, 2013. "Inflation and Economic Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(1), pages 121-144, May.
    4. Fleisher, Belton M. & Chen, Jian, 1997. "The Coast-Noncoast Income Gap, Productivity, and Regional Economic Policy in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 220-236, October.
    5. Martin Raiser, 1998. "Subsidising inequality: Economic reforms, fiscal transfers and convergence across Chinese provinces," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 1-26.
    6. Dennis Tao Yang & Hao Zhou, 1999. "Rural-urban disparity and sectoral labour allocation in China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 105-133.
    7. Kanbur, Ravi & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2001. "Fifty Years of Regional Inequality in China: A Journey through Revolution, Reform and Openness," CEPR Discussion Papers 2887, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Sylvie Démurger & Jeffrey D. Sachs & Wing Thye Woo & Shuming Bao & Gene Chang & Andrew Mellinger, 2002. "Geography, Economic Policy, and Regional Development in China," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 146-197.
    9. Song, Shunfeng & Chu, George S. -F. & Chao, Rongqing, 2000. "Intercity regional disparity in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 246-261.
    10. Yang, Dennis Tao, 2002. "What has caused regional inequality in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 331-334, December.
    11. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    12. Renard, Mary-Francoise, 2002. "A pessimistic view on the impact of regional inequalities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 341-344, December.
    13. Martin, Philippe & Rogers, Carol Ann, 1997. "Stabilization Policy, Learning-by-Doing, and Economic Growth," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(2), pages 152-166, April.
    14. Cai, Fang & Wang, Dewen & Du, Yang, 2002. "Regional disparity and economic growth in China: The impact of labor market distortions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 197-212.
    15. Davoodi, Hamid & Zou, Heng-fu, 1998. "Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Study," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 244-257, March.
    16. Li, Jie & Qiu, Larry D. & Sun, Qunyan, 2003. "Interregional protection: Implications of fiscal decentralization and trade liberalization," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 227-245.
    17. Batisse, Cecile, 2002. "Dynamic externalities and local growth: A panel data analysis applied to Chinese provinces," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 231-251.
    18. Litwack, John M. & Qian, Yingyi, 1998. "Balanced or Unbalanced Development: Special Economic Zones as Catalysts for Transition," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 117-141, March.
    19. Demurger, Sylvie & Fournier, Martin & Li, Shi, 2006. "Urban income inequality in China revisited (1988-2002)," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 354-359, December.
    20. Yuanzheng Cao & Yingyi Qian & Barry R. Weingast, 1999. "From federalism, Chinese style to privatization, Chinese style," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(1), pages 103-131, March.
    21. Jane Golley, 2002. "Regional patterns of industrial development during China’s economic transition," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 10(3), pages 761-801, November.
    22. Dapeng Hu & Masahisa Fujita, 2001. "Regional disparity in China 1985-1994: The effects of globalization and economic liberalization," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 35(1), pages 3-37.
    23. Cécile Batisse, 2002. "Dynamic externalities and local growth," Post-Print hal-02139698, HAL.
    24. Yao, Shujie & Zhang, Zongyi, 2001. "On Regional Inequality and Diverging Clubs: A Case Study of Contemporary China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 466-484, September.
    25. Xavier Sala-I-Martin, 1997. "Transfers, Social Safety Nets, and Economic Growth," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 44(1), pages 81-102, March.
    26. Bao, Shuming & Chang, Gene Hsin & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Woo, Wing Thye, 2002. "Geographic factors and China's regional development under market reforms, 1978-1998," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 89-111.
    27. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    28. Wolfgang Keller & Carol H. Shiue, 2007. "Market Integration and Economic Development: A Long‐run Comparison," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 107-123, February.
    29. Xu, Xinpeng, 2002. "Have the Chinese provinces become integrated under reform?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 116-133.
    30. Gundlach, Erich, 1997. "Regional convergence of output per worker in China: A neoclassical interpretation," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 1765, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    31. Jian, Tianlun & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Warner, Andrew M., 1996. "Trends in regional inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21.
    32. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    33. Dennis Tao Yang, 1999. "Urban-Biased Policies and Rising Income Inequality in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 306-310, May.
    34. Michael Sattinger (ed.), 2001. "Income Distribution," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 2018.
    35. Au, Chun-Chung & Henderson, J. Vernon, 2006. "How migration restrictions limit agglomeration and productivity in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 350-388, August.
    36. John Knight & Lina Song, 2003. "Increasing urban wage inequality in China," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 11(4), pages 597-619, December.
    37. Robert J. Barro & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1991. "Convergence across States and Regions," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 22(1), pages 107-182.
    38. Xu, Lixin Colin & Zou, Heng-fu, 2000. "Explaining the changes of income distribution in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 149-170, December.
    39. Meng, Xin & Zhang, Junsen, 2001. "The Two-Tier Labor Market in Urban China: Occupational Segregation and Wage Differentials between Urban Residents and Rural Migrants in Shanghai," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 485-504, September.
    40. Gallup, John L. & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Mellinger, Andrew, "undated". "Geography and Economic Development," Instructional Stata datasets for econometrics geodata, Boston College Department of Economics.
    41. Zhang, Tao & Zou, Heng-fu, 1998. "Fiscal decentralization, public spending, and economic growth in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 221-240, February.
    42. Chen, Aimin, 2002. "Urbanization and disparities in China: challenges of growth and development," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 407-411, December.
    43. Abigail Barr, 1995. "The missing factor: entrepreneurial networks, enterprises and economic growth in Ghana," CSAE Working Paper Series 1995-11, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    44. Fu, Xiaolan, 2004. "Limited linkages from growth engines and regional disparities in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 148-164, March.
    45. Brun, J. F. & Combes, J. L. & Renard, M. F., 2002. "Are there spillover effects between coastal and noncoastal regions in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 161-169.
    46. repec:bla:etrans:v:10:y:2002-11:i:3:p:761-801 is not listed on IDEAS
    47. Demurger, Sylvie, 2001. "Infrastructure Development and Economic Growth: An Explanation for Regional Disparities in China?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 95-117, March.
    48. Gustafsson, Bjorn & Shi, Li, 2001. "The Anatomy of Rising Earnings Inequality in Urban China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 118-135, March.
    49. Jones, Derek C. & Li, Cheng & Owen, Ann L., 2003. "Growth and regional inequality in China during the reform era," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 186-200.
    50. Zhu, Nong, 2002. "The impacts of income gaps on migration decisions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 213-230.
    51. Alwyn Young, 2000. "The Razor's Edge: Distortions and Incremental Reform in the People's Republic of China," NBER Working Papers 7828, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    52. repec:bla:etrans:v:11:y:2003-03:i:1:p:25-39 is not listed on IDEAS
    53. Kanbur, Ravi & Zhang, Xiaobo, 1999. "Which Regional Inequality? The Evolution of Rural-Urban and Inland-Coastal Inequality in China from 1983 to 1995," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 686-701, December.
    54. Barro, Robert J & Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1992. "Convergence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 223-251, April.
    55. Mody, Ashoka & Wang, Fang-Yi, 1997. "Explaining Industrial Growth in Coastal China: Economic Reforms . . . and What Else?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(2), pages 293-325, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jones, Derek C. & Li, Cheng & Owen, Ann L., 2003. "Growth and regional inequality in China during the reform era," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 186-200.
    2. Celine Bonnefond, 2014. "Growth Dynamics And Conditional Convergence Among Chinese Provinces: A Panel Data Investigation Using System Gmm Estimator," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 1-25, December.
    3. Xubei Luo & Nong Zhu & Heng-fu Zou, 2014. "China's Lagging Region Development And Targeted Transportation Infrastructure Investments," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 15(1), pages 157-200, May.
    4. Groenwold, Nicolaas & Lee, Guoping & Chen, Anping, 2008. "Inter-regional spillovers in China: The importance of common shocks and the definition of the regions," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 32-52, March.
    5. Sylvie Démurger & Jeffrey D. Sachs & Wing Thye Woo & Shuming Bao & Gene Chang & Andrew Mellinger, 2002. "Geography, Economic Policy, and Regional Development in China," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 146-197.
    6. Jing Li & Tsun Se Cheong & Jianfa Shen & Dahai Fu, 2019. "Urbanization And Rural–Urban Consumption Disparity: Evidence From China," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 64(04), pages 983-996, September.
    7. Demurger, Sylvie & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Woo, Wing Thye & BAO, Shuming & Chang, Gene, 2002. "The relative contributions of location and preferential policies in China's regional development: being in the right place and having the right incentives," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 444-465, December.
    8. Xiaolei Qian & Russell Smyth, 2006. "Growth Accounting for the Chinese Provinces 1990-2000: Incorporating Human Capital Accumulation," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 21-37.
    9. Rui Hao & Zheng Wei, 2010. "Fundamental causes of inland–coastal income inequality in post-reform China," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(1), pages 181-206, August.
    10. Andersson, Fredrik N.G. & Edgerton, David L. & Opper, Sonja, 2013. "A Matter of Time: Revisiting Growth Convergence in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 239-251.
    11. Kailei Wei & Shujie Yao & Aying Liu, 2007. "Foreign direct investment and regional inequality in China," Discussion Papers 07/32, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    12. Lu Ming & Zhao Chen & Yongqin Wang & Yan Zhang & Yuan Zhang & Changyuan Luo, 2013. "China’s Economic Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14502.
    13. Sakamoto, Hiroshi & Islam, Nazrul, 2008. "Convergence across Chinese provinces: An analysis using Markov transition matrix," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 66-79, March.
    14. Batisse, Cecile, 2002. "Dynamic externalities and local growth: A panel data analysis applied to Chinese provinces," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 231-251.
    15. Nicolaas Groenewold & Guoping Lee & Anping Chen, 2006. "Inter-Regional Output Spillovers of Policy Shocks in China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 06-26, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    16. Rui HAO & Zheng WEI, 2009. "Sources Of Income Differences Across Chinese Provinces During The Reform Period: A Development Accounting Exercise," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 47(1), pages 1-29, March.
    17. Henderson, Daniel J. & Tochkov, Kiril & Badunenko, Oleg, 2007. "A drive up the capital coast? Contributions to post-reform growth across Chinese provinces," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 569-594, September.
    18. Jongchul Lee, 2006. "Sources Of Divergence Between Coastal And Interior Regions In China," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 123-138, December.
    19. Chen, Anping, 2010. "Reducing China's regional disparities: Is there a growth cost?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 2-13, March.
    20. McErlean, Seamus & Wu, Ziping, 2003. "Regional agricultural labour productivity convergence in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 237-252, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H - Public Economics
    • O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth
    • R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cuf:wpaper:518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Qiang Gao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emcufcn.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.