Rural Income Volatility and Inequality in China

Income Inequality and Health in Rural China

As an indicator of social development and human capital, health has aroused ever-increasing concerns. Using CHNS2000 data, we attempt to address the following two issues: how could income inequality influence health; does the rising income inequality result in health inequality, especially will the health of the lower-income group get worse. We find that there is an “inverted-U” association bet...

The Urban-Rural Gap and Income Inequality in China

The Urban-Rural Income Gap and Inequality in China

Using new household survey data for 1995 and 2002, we investigate the size of China’s urban-rural income gap, the gap’s contribution to overall inequality in China, and the factors underlying the gap. Our analysis improves on past estimates by using a fuller measure of income, adjusting for spatial price differences and including migrants. Our methods include inequality decomposition by populat...

Financial development and income inequality in rural China 1991 - 2000

Financial development can exert a significant influence on the distribution of income. In this paper, using Chinese provincial data over the period of 1991-2000 and applying the generalized method of moment (GMM) techniques, we investigate the relationship between finance and inequality in rural China by testing alternative existing theories concerning the finance-inequality nexus. A negative a...

The Evolution of Income Inequality in Rural China

We document the evolution of the income distribution in rural China, from 1987 through 1999, with an emphasis on investigating increases in inequality associated with transition and economic development. With a backdrop of perceived improvements in average living standards, we ask whether increases of inequality may have offset, or even threaten welfare gains associated with economic reforms. T...