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Beyond Kuznets: persistent regional inequality in China

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  • Christopher Candelaria
  • Mary C. Daly
  • Galina Hale

Abstract

Regional inequality in China appears to be persistent and even growing in the past two decades. We study potential offsetting factors and interprovincial migration to shed light on the sources of this persistence. We find that some of the inequality could be attributed to differences in quality of labor, industry composition, and geographical location of provinces. We also demonstrate that interprovincial migration, while driven in part by wage differences across provinces, does not offset these differences. Finally, we find that interprovincial redistribution did not help offset regional inequality during our sample period.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Candelaria & Mary C. Daly & Galina Hale, 2009. "Beyond Kuznets: persistent regional inequality in China," Working Paper Series 2009-07, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2009-07
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    Cited by:

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    2. Raul M. Silveira-Neto & Carlos R. Azzoni, 2012. "Social Policy As Regional Policy: Market And Nonmarket Factors Determining Regional Inequality," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 433-450, August.
    3. Qin, Xuezheng & Hsieh, Chee-Ruey, 2014. "Economic growth and the geographic maldistribution of health care resources: Evidence from China, 1949-2010," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 228-246.
    4. Ming-Zhu Wang & Marco Amati & Frank Thomalla, 2012. "Understanding the vulnerability of migrants in Shanghai to typhoons," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 60(3), pages 1189-1210, February.
    5. Li, Muqun & Coxhead, Ian, 2009. "Trade, Technology and Inequality in a Developing Country: Theory and Evidence from China," Staff Paper Series 539, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    6. Capello, Marcelo & Figueras, Alberto & Freille, Sebastian & Moncarz, Pedro, 2013. "The role of federal transfers in regional convergence in human development indicators in Argentina," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 27, pages 33-63.
    7. Raul Silveira Neto & Carlos Azzoni, 2011. "Measuring the Contribution of Social Policies to Regional Inequality Dynamic in Brazil," ERSA conference papers ersa11p659, European Regional Science Association.
    8. Muqun Li & Ian Coxhead, 2011. "Trade and Inequality with Limited Labor Mobility: Theory and Evidence from China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 48-65, February.
    9. Theresa M. Greaney & Yao Li, 2013. "Trade, Foreign Direct Investment and Wage Inequality in China: A Heterogeneous Firms Approach," China Economic Policy Review (CEPR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(02), pages 1-49.
    10. Capella-Ramos, João & Checherita-Westphal, Cristina & Leiner-Killinger, Nadine, 2020. "Fiscal transfers and economic convergence," Occasional Paper Series 252, European Central Bank.
    11. Nicolas Ziebarth, 2013. "Are China and India Backwards? Evidence from the 19th Century U.S. Census of Manufactures," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(1), pages 86-99, January.
    12. Fu, Yuming & Gabriel, Stuart A., 2012. "Labor migration, human capital agglomeration and regional development in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 473-484.
    13. 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.

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    Keywords

    Income distribution; China;

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