Income Differentials in Rural China

Vermeer, Eduard B.

doi:10.1017/s0305741000000035

Cited by 27 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…These differences were also exacerbated by policies of local grain self-sufficiency which helped limit re-distribution across regions. Vermeer (1982) suggests that income differences (of the portion that was collectively distributed) between richest and poorest communes (townships) may have been as high as 6:1. There was also considerable poverty in rural areas, with as many as a quarter or more of the rural population living below, an admittedly low, government-defined poverty line prior to reform (1977 or so).…”

Section: Inequality On the Eve Of Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income Inequality during China's Economic Transition

Benjamin¹,

Brandt

Giles³

et al. 2008

China's Great Economic Transformation

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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 urbanrural 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 disequalizing 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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Section: Inequality On the Eve Of Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income Inequality during China's Economic Transition

Benjamin¹,

Brandt

Giles³

et al. 2008

China's Great Economic Transformation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Second, only information on collective income and not total income of households was collected. Thus the data did not cover income from private plots, or private remittances (Vermeer, 1982) In addition, almost all small surveys were conducted before 1980 making the results rather out of date.…”

Section: The Literature On the Distribution Of Income In Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality in China at the End of The 1980s: Locational Aspects and Household Characteristics

Gustafsson

1998

Asian Economic Journal

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Income inequality in China at the household level is assessed by taking into account differences in needs between households and by using individuals as the unit of analysis. Inequality in China as a whole is not particularly low, largely for locational reasons. The urban — rural gap in average income is very important and very little of it can be attributed to household characteristics. Inequality is also due to differences in mean income between coastal China, central China and western China. A considerable number of characteristics measured at the household level are found to affect income. There are, however, some segments of Chinese society in which income is quite equally distributed.

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“…The statistics related to household income released by the state or provincial bureaux merely provided separate information for rural and urban areas from which it appeared difficult to obtain a complete picture of income distribution in China as a whole. Thus the data did not cover income from private plots, or private remittances (Vermeer, 1982) In addition, almost all small surveys were conducted before 1980 making the results rather out of date. The empirical results from the surveys are difficult to generalize.…”

Section: The Literature On the Distribution Of Income In Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

TYPES OF INCOME AND INEQUALITY IN CHINA AT THE END OF THE 1980s

Gustafsson

1997

Review of Income and Wealth

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Using a nationwide household income survey, different types of income in the People's Republic of China at the end of the 1980s is analysed. The results show that various income types play quite different roles in rural and urban areas. Subsistence income makes up about half of the total income in rural China. Money income makes up about two‐thirds of total income in urban China and is the major contributor to inequality in the entire country. In kind income, of which highly subsidized housing is the single most important category, is highly concentrated in urban areas and contributes greatly to inequality.

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Income Differentials in Rural China

Cited by 27 publications

References 13 publications

Income Inequality during China's Economic Transition

Income Inequality during China's Economic Transition

Inequality in China at the End of The 1980s: Locational Aspects and Household Characteristics

TYPES OF INCOME AND INEQUALITY IN CHINA AT THE END OF THE 1980s

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