Inequality and Growth in Modern China

by Guanghua Wan

Overview

This volume provides comprehensive updated coverage of inequality and poverty issues in China. Some of the methodologies developed herein are published for the first time and may be used in other contexts and for other countries. The use of different data sources and state-of-art research techniques ensures that the findings and conclusions can be substantiated and that the policy recommendations are reliable and robust. Contributors to this volume are renowned experts in their respective areas, including, notably, Justin Lin, Xing Meng, Kai-yuen Tsui, and Guanghua Wan. For these reasons, those with an interest in income distribution in general and China's development in particular, will find this volume essential reading.

Rapidly rising inequality in China has contributed to the sluggishness of domestic demand and emerging poverty. It has thus exerted considerable pressure for commodity exports and represents a root cause of increased trade disputes. These have profound ramifications for the US, EU, and other economies, and the international business community. Consequently, economists and sociologists, among others, are increasingly focused upon inequality and poverty issues in China and relevant policy implications.

This volume, arising from a two-year UNU-WIDER project, addresses issues that include the inequality-growth relationship, regional/personal variation in incomes and human well-being such as education, the determinants of inequality and poverty or their changes, gaps in innovation capability, and the role played by China's development strategies in affecting inequality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199535194
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/09/2008
Series:	WIDER Studies in Development Economics
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Guanghua Wan is a known China specialist and applied economist, author of an expansive list of books and published papers in the top refereed journals. His recent work focuses on inequality and poverty in China and elsewhere and has appeared in the Review of Income and Wealth, Journal of Comparative Economics, and Review of Development Economics. He is among the leading group of researchers to develop and apply the regression-based inequality decomposition framework. Dr Wan has served as a consultant to many international organizations and advises the Chinese government on rural development, income distribution, and science and technology policies. He is honorary professor of several leading universities in China including Fudan University and Zhejiang University.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Anthony ShorrocksIntroduction, Guanghua Wan1. The inequality-growth nexus in the short and long run: empirical evidence from China, Guanghua Wan, Ming Lu, and Zhao Chen2. Income inequality in China and its influencing factors, Xiaolu Wang3. Poverty reduction in China: trends and causes, Yin Zhang and Guanghua Wan4. Development strategies and regional income disparities in China, Justin Yifu Lin and Peilin Liu5. Forces shaping China's interprovincial inequality, Kai-yuen Tsui6. Financial Development, Growth and Regional Disparity in Post-Reform China, Zhicheng Liang7. Spatial convergence in China: 1952-99, Patricio Aroca, Dong Guo, and Geoffrey J. D. Hewings8. China's regional inequality in innovation capability, 1995-2004, Peilei Fan and Guanghua Wan9. Widening gap of educational opportunity? A longitudinal study of educational inequality in China, Min-Dong Paul Lee10. Poverty accounting by factor components: With an empirical illustration using Chinese data, Guanghua Wan

Editorial Reviews

"The chapters contained in this volume offer a comprehensive view of modern China's experience with the triangle of growth, inequality, and poverty. They collectively provide valuable insights for other developing countries in the pursuit of inclusive growth strategies."—Xianbin Yao, Director General, Regional and Sustainable Development Department, Asian Development Bank

"Inequality in income and wealth, what causes it and how it affects the rest of economy, has become one of the key topics both in the economics literature and the popular press. This is because the last quarter century has witnessed a veritable exposition of inequality in almost all parts of the world. And perhaps nowhere has this exposition been as large as in China. Its impact there was 'softened' by remarkable economic growth. Yet as regional and class fissures, reminiscent of a long-gone era, reappear, the relationship between inequality and growth is rapidly becoming one of the top political issues in China. This book addresses different facets of China's inequality-growth relationship, and will be a useful reading for China specialists as well as for those interested in inequality and growth as such since China is the largest 'laboratory' where they can observe it."—Branko Milanovic, Lead Economist, World Bank Research Department

"This volume of high quality research resulting from UNU-WIDER provides an essential reference for scholars and students worldwide in their research and studies on growth and income inequality in modern China. The editor, Dr Guanghua Wan, is one of the world's most productive and authoritative experts on the Chinese economy."—Shujie Yao, University of Nottingham and Xi'an Jiaotong University

"The papers collected in this book come from leading scholars studying China's inequality issues. It is a timely book. Rising inequality in China is well known; less well known are the linkages between various aspects of China's economic growth strategy and inequality. This book offers fresh perspectives as well as solid evidence for a better understanding of these linkages. It is a valuable reference for scholars concerned with the relationship between economic growth and inequality as well as for students on China."—Yang Yao, Deputy Director, China Center for Economic Research, Peking University

From the Publisher