Inequality and Public Policy in China

Erscheinungsjahr 2010
ISBN: 978-0-521-87045-0
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 384 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 773 g

Examines trends in inequality in the People's Republic of China. It contains new findings on inequality nationwide, as well as within the rural and urban sectors, with an emphasis on public policy considerations. Several chapters focus on inequality of income; others analyze poverty, inequality in wealth, and the distribution of wages. Attention is given to groups such as migrants, women, and the elderly, as well as the relationship between income and health care funding and the impact of the rural tax reform. A distinguishing feature of this book is its database. All contributors to this volume make use of a large, nationwide survey of Chinese households, the product of long-term cooperation between Chinese and international researchers that is unique in its scope and duration. Using these data, the contributors examine changes in inequality over nearly fifteen years of the transitional era, from 1988 to 2002.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gustafsson, Björn A.

Shi, Li

Sicular, Terry

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftssysteme, Wirtschaftsstrukturen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Inequality and public policy in China: issues and trends; 2. Income inequality and spatial differences in China, 1988, 1995, and 2002; 3. Growth and distribution of household income in China between 1995 and 2002; 4. Explaining incomes and inequality in China; 5. The distribution of wealth in China; 6. Growth, inequality, and poverty: a comparative study of China's experience in the periods before and after the Asian crisis; 7. What has economic transition meant for the well-being of the elderly in China?; 8. Inequality in financing China's health care; 9. China's emerging wage structure, 1995-2002; 10. Unemployment, earlier retirement and changes in the gender income gap in urban China from 1995 to 2002; 11. What determines living arrangements of the elderly in urban China?; 12. The impact of village-specific factors on household income in rural China; 13. The redistributive impact of taxation in rural China, 1995-2002: an evaluation of rural taxation reform at the turn of the century; Appendix: the 1995 and 2002 household surveys: sampling methods and data description.

Über Autor(innen)

Sicular, Terry
Terry Sicular is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Western Ontario. She has also held posts at Stanford and Harvard Universities, and is a leading researcher on the Chinese economy. Her research has covered topics such as China's market reforms, rural labor and employment, capital flight, and inequality. She has published widely in scholarly journals, and served as a consultant to international donor organizations. Recent and forthccoming publications include The Urban-Rural Income Gap and Inequality in China, The Review of Income and Wealth (forthcoming, with X. Yue, B. Gustafsson, and S. Li), and Why Do Revolutions Succeed? The Role of Rational Choice in the Chinese Communist Revolution, Homo Oeconomicus (2004). Professor Sicular also edited Food Price Policy in Asia: A Comparative Study (1989).

Gustafsson, Björn A.
Björn A. Gustafsson is Professor at the Department of Social Work, Göteborg University, Sweden. His research covers empirical studies on poverty, social assistance, the distribution of economic well-being and the welfare state, as well as the economics of immigration. He has published published widely in scholarly journals and been commissioned by many public authorities to write special reports or contribute to special reports. Professor Gustafsson coedited Changing Patterns in the Distribution of Economic Welfare, An International Perspective with Peter Gottschalk and Edward Palmer (Cambridge University Press, 1997) and Poverty and Low Income in the Nordic Countries with Peder J. Pedersen (2000).

Shi, Li
Li Shi is Professor of Economics in the School of Economics and Business at Beijing Normal University. He is one of China's leading scholars on inequality and poverty. His past positions include Director of the Center of Economic Transition and Development Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Professor Li's publications include several edited volumes, including China's Retreat from Equality (2001, with R. Zhao and C. Riskin), and Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty in Urban China (2006, with H. Sato). He has also served as a consultant to international donor organizations and has been a key contributor to China's Human Development Report.