[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/ecdecc/v58y2010i3p385-413.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Income and Consumption Inequality in Urban China: 1992-2003

Author

Listed:
  • Hongbin Cai
  • Yuyu Chen
  • Li-An Zhou
Abstract
Using the nationally representative Urban Household Income and Expenditure Survey (UHIES) conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of China, we document a steadily rising trend in income and consumption inequality during the period from 1992 to 2003 in urban China. Despite the rising urban inequality over time, the social welfare of urban residents unambiguously improved because every income group saw their income and consumption increase over this period (higher income groups experienced faster increases). Moreover, consumption inequality follows income inequality very closely. Labor income inequality accounts for about two-thirds of total income inequality quite consistently over time. We find that only about one-third of urban inequality can be attributed to observable individual choices and characteristics, of which education has increasing explanatory power, while regional differences become less important over time. We also find that restructuring of the SOE sector, urbanization, and globalization are important contributing factors to rising overall urban inequality and the within-group inequality not accounted for by observable individual choices and characteristics. (c) 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongbin Cai & Yuyu Chen & Li-An Zhou, 2010. "Income and Consumption Inequality in Urban China: 1992-2003," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3), pages 385-413, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:v:58:y:2010:i:3:p:385-413
    DOI: 10.1086/650423
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/650423
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/650423?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    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. Lin, Justin Y & Wang, Gewei & Zhao, Yaohui, 2004. "Regional Inequality and Labor Transfers in China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(3), pages 587-603, April.
    3. Dirk Krueger & Fabrizio Perri, 2006. "Does Income Inequality Lead to Consumption Inequality? Evidence and Theory -super-1," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(1), pages 163-193.
    4. Jonathan Morduch & Terry Sicular, 2002. "Rethinking Inequality Decomposition, With Evidence from Rural China," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(476), pages 93-106, January.
    5. repec:bla:revinw:v:43:y:1997:i:2:p:133-52 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Jean-Yves Duclos & Abdelkrim Araar, 2006. "Poverty and Equity," Economic Studies in Inequality, Social Exclusion, and Well-Being, Springer, number 978-0-387-33318-2, July.
    7. 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.
    8. Kai-yuen, Tsui, 1998. "Trends and Inequalities of Rural Welfare in China: Evidence from Rural Households in Guangdong and Sichuan," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 783-804, December.
    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. Benjamin, Dwayne & Brandt, Loren & Giles, John, 2005. "The Evolution of Income Inequality in Rural China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(4), pages 769-824, July.
    2. 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, September.
    3. Ying Ge, 2006. "Regional Inequality, Industry Agglomeration and Foreign Trade: The Case of China," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-105, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Zhicheng Liang, 2006. "Financial Development and Income Inequality in Rural China 1991-2000," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-96, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Xiaoyun Liu & Terry Sicular, 2009. "Nonagricultural Employment Determinants and Income Inequality Decomposition," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 29-43, July.
    6. Zhong Zhao & Zhaopeng Qu, 2013. "Wage Inequality of Chinese Rural-Urban Migrants Between 2002 and 2007," Working Papers PMMA 2013-04, PEP-PMMA.
    7. James Alm & Yongzheng Liu, 2014. "China's Tax-for-Fee Reform and Village Inequality," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 38-64, March.
    8. Raya Das & Ravi Srivastava, 2021. "Income inequality among agricultural households in India: A regression‐based decomposition analysis," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1128-1149, August.
    9. Stephen P. Jenkins & John Micklewright, 2007. "New Directions in the Analysis of Inequality and Poverty," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 700, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    10. Jin, Hailong & Qian, Hang & Wang, Tong & Choi, E. Kwan, 2014. "Income distribution in urban China: An overlooked data inconsistency issue," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 383-396.
    11. Furong Jin & Keun Lee, 2017. "Dynamics of the growth–inequality nexus in China: roles of surplus labor, openness, education, and technical change in province-panel analysis," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 1-25, January.
    12. Zhao, Da & Wu, Tianhao & He, Qiwei, 2017. "Consumption inequality and its evolution in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 208-228.
    13. Qu, Zhaopeng & Zhao, Zhong, 2017. "Glass ceiling effect in urban China: Wage inequality of rural-urban migrants during 2002–2007," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 118-144.
    14. Junichi Ito, 2008. "The removal of institutional impediments to migration and its impact on employment, production and income distribution in China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 239-265, September.
    15. Zhao, Zhong & Qu, Zhaopeng, 2012. "Analyzing the wage inequality for rural-urban migrants in China, 2002-2007," PEP Policy Briefs 159926, Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP).
    16. Xing, Li & Fan, Shenggen & Luo, Xiaopeng & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2006. "Village Inequality in Western China," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25390, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. C�line Bonnefond & Matthieu Cl�ment, 2012. "An analysis of income polarisation in rural and urban China," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 15-37, June.
    18. Whalley, John & Zhang, Shunming, 2007. "A numerical simulation analysis of (Hukou) labour mobility restrictions in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 392-410, July.
    19. Lida Fan, 2009. "Measuring Interprovincial Flows of Human Capital in China: 1995–2000," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 28(3), pages 367-387, June.
    20. Guanghua Wan & Zhangyue Zhou, 2005. "Income Inequality in Rural China: Regression‐based Decomposition Using Household Data," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 107-120, February.

    More about this item

    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:ucp:ecdecc:v:58:y:2010:i:3:p:385-413. 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/EDCC .

    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.