IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/serxxx/v64y2019i04ns0217590817450102.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Urbanization And Rural–Urban Consumption Disparity: Evidence From China

Author

Listed:
  • JING LI

    (Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N. T., Hong Kong)

  • TSUN SE CHEONG

    (#x2020;School of Business, Hang Seng Management College, Hang Shin Link, Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong)

  • JIANFA SHEN

    (Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N. T., Hong Kong)

  • DAHAI FU

    (#x2021;School of International Trade and Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, 39 South College Road, Haidian District, Beijing, P. R. China)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate the impacts of urbanization on influencing the rural–urban consumption disparity in China, a research gap which has not been bridged so far. Adopting a provincial dataset from 1997 to 2014, a generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator is employed to reveal the impact of urbanization on the ratio of per capita consumption expenditure of the urban households to the rural households, along with other socioeconomic variables. Empirical results show salient relationship between increasing urbanization ratio and declining rural–urban inequality. Significant impact of education costs on increasing the rural–urban inequality is also observed. Other factors that increase the disparity include foreign investment and gross regional product (GRP) indices. Industrial structure, costs of housing and health care are insignificant factors. The results of this study help in understanding China’s new urbanization development strategy in a better way.

Suggested Citation

  • Jing Li & Tsun Se Cheong & Jianfa Shen & Dahai Fu, 2019. "Urbanization And Rural–Urban Consumption Disparity: Evidence From China," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 64(04), pages 983-996, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:serxxx:v:64:y:2019:i:04:n:s0217590817450102
    DOI: 10.1142/S0217590817450102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0217590817450102
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S0217590817450102?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. Dennis Tao Yang, 1999. "Urban-Biased Policies and Rising Income Inequality in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 306-310, May.
    2. Kailei Wei & Shujie Yao & Aying Liu, 2009. "Foreign Direct Investment and Regional Inequality in China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 778-791, November.
    3. Ralph Wahnschafft & Fen Wei, 2015. "Urban China: Toward Efficient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Urbanization The World Bank and the Development Research Center of the State Council, People's Republic of China World Bank , Washington, DC ,," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 0(2), pages 151-152, May.
    4. Chen, Jian & Fleisher, Belton M., 1996. "Regional Income Inequality and Economic Growth in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 141-164, April.
    5. Fleisher, Belton M. & Chen, Jian, 1997. "The Coast-Noncoast Income Gap, Productivity, and Regional Economic Policy in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 220-236, October.
    6. Fleisher, Belton & Li, Haizheng & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2010. "Human capital, economic growth, and regional inequality in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 215-231, July.
    7. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    8. Dennis Tao Yang & Hao Zhou, 1999. "Rural-urban disparity and sectoral labour allocation in China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 105-133.
    9. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    10. Ravi Kanbur & Xiaobo Zhang, 2005. "Fifty Years of Regional Inequality in China: a Journey Through Central Planning, Reform, and Openness," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 87-106, February.
    11. John Whalley & Xiliang Zhao, 2010. "The Contribution of Human Capital to China's Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 16592, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Chunlai Chen, 2011. "Foreign Direct Investment in China," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14100.
    13. Dewen Wang, 2006. "China's Urban and Rural Old Age Security System: Challenges and Options," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 14(1), pages 102-116, February.
    14. Guanghua Wan & Ming Lu & Zhao Chen, 2007. "Globalization And Regional Income Inequality: Empirical Evidence From Within China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 53(1), pages 35-59, March.
    15. Fan, Shenggen & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2004. "Infrastructure and regional economic development in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 203-214.
    16. Demurger, Sylvie, 2001. "Infrastructure Development and Economic Growth: An Explanation for Regional Disparities in China?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 95-117, March.
    17. Q. Zhang & B. Felmingham, 2002. "The Role of FDI, Exports and Spillover Effects in the Regional Development of China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 157-178.
    18. Justin Yifu Lin & Binkai Chen, 2011. "Urbanization and Urban-Rural Inequality in China: A New Perspective from the Government¡¯s Development Strategy," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-21, March.
    19. WHALLEY, John & XIN, Xian, 2010. "China's FDI and non-FDI economies and the sustainability of future high Chinese growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 123-135, March.
    20. Hertel, Thomas & Zhai, Fan, 2006. "Labor market distortions, rural-urban inequality and the opening of China's economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 76-109, January.
    21. Zhu, Nong, 2002. "The impacts of income gaps on migration decisions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 213-230.
    22. Chen, Zhihong & Ge, Ying & Lai, Huiwen, 2011. "Foreign Direct Investment and Wage Inequality: Evidence from China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1322-1332, August.
    23. Song, Shunfeng & Chu, George S. -F. & Chao, Rongqing, 2000. "Intercity regional disparity in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 246-261.
    24. Zhang, Xiaobo, 2006. "Fiscal decentralization and political centralization in China: Implications for growth and inequality," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 713-726, December.
    25. Liu, Zhiqiang, 2005. "Institution and inequality: the hukou system in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 133-157, March.
    26. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    27. Lu, Ding, 2002. "Rural-urban income disparity: impact of growth, allocative efficiency, and local growth welfare," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 419-429, December.
    28. Iris Claus & Les Oxley & Ming Lu & Guanghua Wan, 2014. "Urbanization And Urban Systems In The People'S Republic Of China: Research Findings And Policy Recommendations," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 671-685, September.
    29. Jian, Tianlun & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Warner, Andrew M., 1996. "Trends in regional inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21.
    30. Xiaolei Qian & Russell Smyth, 2008. "Measuring regional inequality of education in China: widening coast-inland gap or widening rural-urban gap?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 132-144.
    31. Hu, Dapeng, 2002. "Trade, rural-urban migration, and regional income disparity in developing countries: a spatial general equilibrium model inspired by the case of China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 311-338, May.
    32. Justin Lin & Binkai Chen, 2011. "Urbanization and urban-rural inequality in china: a new perspective from the government’s development strategy," Frontiers of Economics in China, Springer;Higher Education Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-21, March.
    33. Hussain, Athar & Lanjouw, Peter & Stern, Nicholas, 1994. "Income inequalities in China: Evidence from household survey data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(12), pages 1947-1957, December.
    34. Fang, Cheng & Zhang, Xiaobo & Fan, Shenggen, 2002. "Emergence of urban poverty and inequality in China: evidence from household survey," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 430-443, December.
    35. Guanghua Wan, 2007. "Understanding Regional Poverty And Inequality Trends In China: Methodological Issues And Empirical Findings," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 53(1), pages 25-34, March.
    36. Alyson C. Ma, 2006. "Geographical Location of Foreign Direct Investment and Wage Inequality in China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 1031-1055, August.
    37. Hannum, Emily & Wang, Meiyan, 2006. "Geography and educational inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 253-265.
    38. Bao, Shuming & Chang, Gene Hsin & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Woo, Wing Thye, 2002. "Geographic factors and China's regional development under market reforms, 1978-1998," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 89-111.
    39. Xu, Lixin Colin & Zou, Heng-fu, 2000. "Explaining the changes of income distribution in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 149-170, December.
    40. 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.
    41. John Knight & Ramani Gunatilaka, 2010. "The Rural-Urban Divide in China: Income but Not Happiness?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 506-534.
    42. Wu, Xiaodong, 2001. "Foreign direct investment, intellectual property rights, and wage inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 361-384.
    43. David Roodman, 2009. "A Note on the Theme of Too Many Instruments," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(1), pages 135-158, February.
    44. David Roodman, 2006. "How to Do xtabond2," North American Stata Users' Group Meetings 2006 8, Stata Users Group.
    45. Xiaobo Zhang & Kevin Zhang, 2003. "How Does Globalisation Affect Regional Inequality within A Developing Country? Evidence from China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(4), pages 47-67.
    46. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    47. Meng, Xin, 2003. "Unemployment, consumption smoothing, and precautionary saving in urban China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 465-485, September.
    48. Windmeijer, Frank, 2005. "A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 25-51, May.
    49. Knight, John & Li, Shi, 1996. "Educational Attainment and the Rural--Urban Divide in China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 58(1), pages 83-117, February.
    50. Fu, Xiaolan, 2004. "Limited linkages from growth engines and regional disparities in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 148-164, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yongqiang Zhang & Guifang Ma & Yuan Tian & Quanyao Dong, 2023. "Nonlinear Effect of Digital Economy on Urban–Rural Consumption Gap: Evidence from a Dynamic Panel Threshold Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Juan Luo & Bao-zhen Li, 2022. "Impact of Digital Financial Inclusion on Consumption Inequality in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 529-553, September.

    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. Tsun Se Cheong & Yanrui Wu, 2013. "Globalization and Regional Inequality," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 13-10, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    2. Iris Claus & Les Oxley & Chen Wang & Guanghua Wan & Dan Yang, 2014. "Income Inequality In The People'S Republic Of China: Trends, Determinants, And Proposed Remedies," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 686-708, September.
    3. Qinghua Zhang & Heng-fu Zou, 2012. "Regional Inequality in Contemporary China," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 13(1), pages 113-137, May.
    4. Celine Bonnefond, 2014. "Growth Dynamics And Conditional Convergence Among Chinese Provinces: A Panel Data Investigation Using System Gmm Estimator," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 1-25, December.
    5. Li, Tingting & Wang, Yong, 2018. "Growth channels of human capital: A Chinese panel data study," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 309-322.
    6. Wang, Xiang & Shao, Shuai & Li, Ling, 2019. "Agricultural inputs, urbanization, and urban-rural income disparity: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 67-84.
    7. Rui Hao & Zheng Wei, 2010. "Fundamental causes of inland–coastal income inequality in post-reform China," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(1), pages 181-206, August.
    8. Xiuyan Liu & Xingmin Yin, 2010. "Spatial externalities and regional income inequality: Evidence from China’s prefecture-level data," Frontiers of Economics in China, Springer;Higher Education Press, vol. 5(2), pages 325-338, June.
    9. Farhad Noorbakhsh & Zhikai Wang, 2010. "Interprovincial disparities in China since the reforms: convergence or divergence?," Working Papers 2010_11, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    10. Zheng, Xinye & Li, Fanghua & Song, Shunfeng & Yu, Yihua, 2013. "Central government's infrastructure investment across Chinese regions: A dynamic spatial panel data approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 264-276.
    11. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2012. "Trade and Regional Inequality," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 88(2), pages 109-136, April.
    12. Dong, Xiao-Ying & Hao, Yu, 2018. "Would income inequality affect electricity consumption? Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 215-227.
    13. Lu Ming & Zhao Chen & Yongqin Wang & Yan Zhang & Yuan Zhang & Changyuan Luo, 2013. "China’s Economic Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14502.
    14. Gravier-Rymaszewska, Joanna & Tyrowicz, Joanna & Kochanowicz, Jacek, 2010. "Intra-provincial inequalities and economic growth in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 237-258, September.
    15. Onur Özdemir, 2020. "The handicap for enhanced solidarity across advanced economies: The greater the economic openness higher the unequal distribution of income," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(4), pages 585-632, December.
    16. Lessmann, Christian, 2013. "Foreign direct investment and regional inequality: A panel data analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 129-149.
    17. Jongchul Lee, 2006. "Sources Of Divergence Between Coastal And Interior Regions In China," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 123-138, December.
    18. Wai Choi Lee & Tsun Se Cheong & Yanrui Wu & Jianxin Wu, 2019. "The Impacts of Financial Development, Urbanization, and Globalization on Income Inequality: A Regression-based Decomposition Approach," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 18(2), pages 126-141, Summer.
    19. Chen, Anping & Groenewold, Nicolaas, 2013. "Does investment allocation affect the inter-regional output gap in China? A time-series investigation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 197-206.
    20. Kailei Wei & Shujie Yao & Aying Liu, 2008. "Foreign Direct Investment and Regional Inequality in China," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-94, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    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:wsi:serxxx:v:64:y:2019:i:04:n:s0217590817450102. 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: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/ser/ser.shtml .

    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.