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ID: 086209

Measuring inter-provincial income inequality in China: sensitivity analysis / Hao, Rui; Wei, Zheng

Hao, Rui	Journal Article
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2009.

Summary/Abstract

China's regional inequality is a hotly debated topic in the literature, but the fundamental issue of measurement has somehow escaped from the deliberations. In this paper, we select several commonly used income indicators, inequality indices and concepts to measure China's inter-provincial inequality and compare the results. We find China's inter-provincial inequality is very sensitive to different measurements. These sensitivity analyses help us to understand the ongoing debates on China's regional income inequality. We also conduct a cross-country comparison to illustrate the broad ranking of China's regional inequality in the world. We find that China's regional inequality appears not to be as high as usually perceived, despite approaching an alarming level.

Key Words

China ; Inter-Provincial Inequality ; Measurement ; Sensitivity ; Income Indicators ; China Regional Inequality

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ID: 143386

Population dynamics and economic growth in China / Golley, Jane; Wei, Zheng

Golley, Jane	Article
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Summary/Abstract

This paper focuses on two major elements of China's population dynamics—the rising proportion of workers in the population and the shift of rural workers from agriculture into industry and services—in a provincial-level analysis of per capita income and productivity growth during the last three decades. We measure the ‘mechanical’ contributions of these dynamics to per capita income as revealed by growth decompositions, before assessing the determinants of per capita income and productivity growth in a series of regressions that include the growth of the working-age to total population (WAP) ratio and a measure of sectoral employment change. Our results indicate that sectoral change has made a significant positive contribution to both per capita income growth and aggregate productivity growth, stemming from its positive impact on agricultural productivity growth—as predicted by the Lewisian dual economy model. However, the negative impact of sectoral change on productivity growth in the industrial and service sectors, combined with the negative impact of growth of the WAP ratio on both per capita income and aggregate productivity growth, suggests that the benefits of China's population dynamics during the last three decades have been overstated.

Key Words

Demography ; China ; Economic Growth ; Productivity ; Sectoral Change

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