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Understanding Inequality and Poverty in China
Methods and Applications
The ongoing campaign of 'western development' launched in 1999 and the recent Chinese government initiative of 'building a harmonious society' highlight the urgency and significance of analysing inequality and poverty. Prominent contributors from China and around the world explore trends of inequality and poverty in China, identify their causes and assess their consequences. Issues explored within this volume include regional/personal variation in incomes, measures of human wellbeing – such as health and education – the gap between the coastal regions (which have strongly benefited from the expansion of China's exports) and the interior regions, and urban–rural disparity. This volume also examines the impact that a variety of different factors have had in determining inequality and poverty and their dynamics. Factors examined include resource endowment, location (including proximity to major transport links such as coastal ports), historical differences in the pace of economic development, the uneven impact of economic reform and imbalance in the provision of economic and social infrastructure.
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Endorsements
'The miraculous economic growth in China has, since the mid-1980s, been accompanied by rapidly rising inequality. This is slowing down poverty reduction and is tearing at China's social fabric. Understanding the causes and implications of this rising inequality is thus critical. This volume provides the most up to date and thorough empirical analyses of these crucial issues by leading China scholars. It should be required reading for China scholars as well as policy-makers trying to address this worrying rise in inequality.' - Stephan Klasen, Professor of Economics, University of Göttingen; Director, Courant Center 'Poverty, Equity, and Growth in Developing and Transition Countries'
'The book gathers a fascinating collection of articles on various aspects of income inequality and poverty in China. This is applied economics at its best, with essential policy implications for the fastest growing economy in the world for the past quarter of a century.' - Jacques Silber, Bar-Ilan University, Israel; Founder and Former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Economic Inequality