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Fifty Years of Regional Inequality in China: A Journey through Central Planning, Reform, and Openness

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  • Ravi Kanbur
  • Xiaobo Zhang

Abstract

This paper constructs and analyses a long-run time-series for regional inequality in China from the Communist Revolution to the present. There have been three peaks of inequality in the last fifty years, coinciding with the Great Famine of the late 1950s, the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s and 1970s, and finally the period of openness and global integration in the late 1990s.

Suggested Citation

  • Ravi Kanbur & Xiaobo Zhang, 2004. "Fifty Years of Regional Inequality in China: A Journey through Central Planning, Reform, and Openness," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-50, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:rp2004-50
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