Does polycentric spatial structure narrow the urban-rural income gap? – Evidence from six urban clusters in China

As urbanization and economic development continue to accelerate, social equity issues are becoming increasingly prominent and the urban–rural income gap is an important manifestation of this. This study uses the data of urban clusters from 2010 to 2019 and focuses on the relationship between the polycentric spatial structure of urban clusters and the urban–rural income gap. The findings show that the development of urban cluster polycentricity can reduce the urban–rural income gap, and the higher the degree of polycentricity in morphology, the smaller the gap. However, the relationship between polycentric spatial structure and the urban–rural income gap is “U” shaped, indicating the need for rational planning of urban polycentric development patterns rather than simple expansion. In addition, the polycentric spatial structure of urban clusters can reduce regional disparities by promoting factor mobility and industrial structure optimization. However, this depends on the level of industrial development and infrastructure. This study highlights the importance of a balanced approach to urban development that takes into account regional disparities and issues of social equity.     

The trend of the Gini coefficient of China (1978–2010)

ABSTRACT

This study proposes a new approach to analyse the effects of an overlap term on the calculation of the overall Gini coefficient and estimates China’s Gini ratios since the adoption of the economic reform and open-door policies. A decomposition of the Chinese Gini coefficient for 1978–2010 reveals that the key factor contributing to income inequalities is the income disparity between rural and urban inhabitants. We further investigate the features of this income inequality between rural and urban areas and employ statistical approaches to evaluate the effects of urbanisation and rural-to-urban average income on nationwide income inequality. The results show that accelerating the pace of urbanisation is mainly responsible for decreasing China’s income disparity. Drawing on these results, we conclude with suggestions for related policies.     

Inequality of opportunity in household income,China 2002–2018

This study contributes to the literature on inequality of opportunity (IOp) in China by covering a longer and more recent span of time, employing better measures of given characteristics, and analyzing IOp for household income per capita with comparisons to individual income. Furthermore, it analyzes how IOp differs between the rural- and urban-born, and how IOp changes across birth cohorts and with age. We use 2002, 2013 and 2018 data from the Chinese Household Income Study and focus on income inequality among working-age persons. We find that IOp in China declined, especially between 2013 and 2018. In 2002 the large contributors to IOp were region, hukou type at birth, and parents' characteristics. In 2018 the contributions of region, hukou type at birth and parents' occupation had decreased, but that of parents' education had increased. We find that IOp is larger among those born in rural than urban China. Furthermore, IOP's contribution to total inequality within each birth cohort is highest earlier in individuals' work lives and declines with age. IOp is higher for older than younger birth cohorts, reflecting that younger cohorts have benefited from increased opportunities associated with China's reforms and opening up.     

The mobility of top earnings,income, and wealth in China: Facts from the 2011–2017 China household finance survey

We document rich facts of the intra-generational mobility of households in the top fractiles of earnings, income, and wealth distributions in China using the panel data of the 2011–2017 China Household Finance Survey. We find high mobility co-exists with high inequalities within various top fractile groups. In specific, persistence rates of the top 1% group implied an inverted-U pattern for top earnings mobility, a declined trend of top income mobility, and an improved trend for top wealth mobility during the study period. Although the overall trends of mobility for top earnings, income, and wealth showed diverse patterns, they are still considered high from global comparisons. Besides, the top 1% households generate significantly more income from business and allocate a higher fraction of their assets to private equity.     

The rise of the middle class: the income gap between salaried employees and workers in Sweden,ca. 1830–1940

ABSTRACT

We present the first comprehensive, long run salary information on Swedish middle-class employees before the twentieth century. Our data include, for instance, school teachers, professors, clerks, policemen and janitors in Stockholm and Sweden, ca. 1830–1940. We use the new data to compare the annual earnings of these middle-class employees with the annual earnings of farm workers, unskilled construction workers and manufacturing workers. The results show that the income gap between the middle class and the working class widen drastically from the mid-nineteenth century to a historically high level during the 1880s and 1890s. The differentials then decreased during the first four decades of the twentieth century. The bulging earnings advantage of middle-class employees vis-à-vis unskilled workers chimes with Kocka’s depiction of the latter half of the nineteenth century as the era of the bourgeoisie.     

The Development of Inequality and Poverty in Indonesia, 1932–2008

We estimate inequality in Indonesia between 1932 and 2008. Inequality increased at the start of this period but declined sharply from the 1960s onwards. The increase was due to a shift from domestic to export agriculture over the period up to the Great Depression. During the 1930s, as the price of export crops declined, the income of rich farmers suffered a blow. Yet this was counterbalanced by an increasing gap between expenditures in the urban and rural sectors, causing an overall rise in inequality. As for the second half of the century, we find that the employment shift towards manufacturing and services—combined with an increase in labour productivity in agriculture—accounts for inequality’s decline, which was halted in the 1990s. These inequality trends affected poverty as well, but prior to the 1940s the negative impact of the rise in inequality was offset by an increase in per capita GDP. Between 1950 and 1980 a decline in inequality, combined with increased per capita GDP, rapidly raised a large portion of the population above the poverty line.     

The price of poverty: The association between childhood poverty and adult income and education in Sweden, 1947–2015

Childhood poverty increases the likelihood of being poor as an adult. We know relatively little about this persistence of poverty in the past and whether it changed as modern welfare societies developed. This study both analyses determinants of childhood poverty and assesses the association between childhood poverty and economic outcomes in adulthood for men and women who grew up in southern Sweden, and who were followed to adulthood regardless of where in Sweden they resided. Poverty is measured in relative terms. Being raised by a single mother, foreign origin, and being raised in a context where the household head was not employed were important risk factors for childhood poverty. Growing up in relative poverty was in turn associated with low income and education in adulthood. Both the persistence and intensity of childhood poverty mattered, and so did the age during which poverty was experienced. Patterns were similar for men and women, and there was no consistent change over time as the Swedish welfare state expanded.     

The impact of financial development on the income and consumption levels of China’s rural residents

In this paper, we investigate the impact of financial development on rural residents’ income and consumption levels in China. We discover that the development of traditional financial services has little impact on the income and consumption levels of rural residents. In contrast, the development of emerging financial services has a significant positive impact on the income and consumption levels of rural residents. Traditional financial services, as is well known, require collateral and high expected future cash flows from customers, making financial inclusion difficult. Emerging financial services in China are special financial services promoted by financial regulators to support technological innovation, cultural development, environmental protection, and rural development. Our findings suggest that these emerging financial services are effective in increasing the income and consumption levels of rural residents. Interestingly, while emerging financial services that directly target rural development have no significant impact on rural residents' income and consumption, financial support for technological advancement and cultural development appears to be more effective in increasing rural residents' income and consumption.     

Economic transition and the determinants of self-employment in urban China: 2007–2013

Abstract

Why was there a large growth in self-employment in urban China during the economic transition period? There are two hypotheses proposed to answer this: the disguised unemployment hypothesis that there is no opportunity to access the formal sector to gain better work, and the business creation hypothesis that successful business owners create new jobs for others, new business opportunities, and many innovative new products for society, as pointed out in previous studies. Using CHIP2007 and CHIP2013, this paper tests the two hypotheses. The main conclusions are as follows: First, generally, utilizing the imputed wage premiums, which were used in previous studies, the business creation hypothesis is rejected; the disguised unemployment hypothesis is supported for both the local urban resident and the migrant groups in 2007 and 2013. Second, the results that utilized the new wage premiums based on the imputed employee wages in the private sector show that the business creation hypothesis is supported when a worker chose to become an employer for both the migrant group and the local urban resident group in 2013. Third, the business creation hypothesis is relevant for the older generation group of local urban residents in 2013.     

Job satisfaction and relative income in economic transition: Status or signal?: The case of urban China

We use two datasets for urban China to examine whether an increase in reference group income lowers or increases job satisfaction. The former is consistent with a status effect — an increase in the income of others lowers my satisfaction because I feel jealous. The latter is consistent with a signal effect — an increase in the income of others might make me jealous, but it also provides an information signal about my future prospects. When we use a single item indicator of job satisfaction we find no support for a status or signal effect; however, when we use a psychometrically valid instrument to measure job satisfaction, we find some support for the existence of a status effect. We consider the components of job satisfaction through which the status effect operates. We find that the status effect operates through satisfaction with co-workers, operating procedures, pay and supervision.     

The banks and the financing of industry in Sweden,c. 1900–1927

Abstract

In the recently published third volume of Fagerstabrukens Historic, Professor E. F. Söderlund has given a detailed and penetrating account of the formation in 1927 of the Fagersta concern, resulting from the amalgamation of five leading Swedish iron works. ¹ Cf. Professor B. Boëthius' article above. pp. 174. His analysis offers a most useful background for a discussion of certain general problems of industrial finance and ownership, and of banking, in Sweden during the First World War and the 1920s. To provide such a discussion is the purpose of this article, and to that end it will be necessary to summarise Professor Söderlund's narrative. As, however, the story is in all essential respects the same for each of the works, a brief resume of the main facts in the history of one of them, Fagersta Bruk, will suffice.     

The effects of formal and informal child care on the Mother's labor supply—Evidence from urban China

The women's labor force participation rate in China has declined considerably during the last twenty years in urban China. Since the reforms started in the mid-1990s, publicly subsidized child care programs have decreased, and private care centers have increased. This might have increased the reliance of working mothers on informal child care and reduced their reliance on formal child care. Using post-reform data from the Project on Rural–Urban Migration in China (RUMiC) of 2008, I estimate the effects of formal and informal child care on the labor supply of mothers of young children. A recursive model with instrumental variables is employed to account for endogeneity. I find a positive and significant impact of informal child care in the form of grandchild care on the mother's labor force participation, while no significant effect of formal child care in the form of kindergartens or paid nannies. Considering recent tendencies in China to postpone retirement, one possible method to maintain mothers' presence in the labor market could be to reinforce the availability and affordability of formal child care.²³     

The Development of Subsidy on Agriculture and the Implementing of Direct Farmer Income Subsidy in China

In this paper, the development and present status of agriculture subsidy of China are analyzed, and the background, objective and recent practice of direct farmer income subsidy in China are introduced and evaluated, at last some suggestions are given.     

The boll weevil plague and its effect on the southern agricultural sector, 1889–1929

In the early 1890s, cotton fields in the American South were ravaged by the boll weevil. Using a model that controls for differences in the intensity of cotton production at the county level, we show how the boll weevil significantly changed southern agricultural labor arrangements and labor market outcomes. The boll weevil significantly reduced the number of tenant farms, decreased farm wages, and female labor force participation, particularly in counties with a higher intensity of cotton production.     

Research on the Seemingly Incompatible Phenomenon of China ——The Coexistence of the Shortage of Peasant Workers and the Difficulty in Employment

In order to answer the questions： ＂Why does the shortage of peasant workers occur in China while there is a serious surplus of labor force？ What is the influence it will bring about on the inland labor market especially on the exports of labor force in poor regions and the poverty-reduction policies of China？, this paper carries out lots of investigations both in major manufacturing centers such as Wenzhou, Suzhou, Dongguan and in big labor-exports provinces such as Hunan and Sichuan, on the basis of analysis on the supply and demand of labor force in China, the paper analyzes the regional distribution pattern of the labor market and its changes, and then thoroughly explores the cause of the seemingly incompatible phenomenon--the coexistence of the shortage of peasant workers and the difficulty in employment, finally, some suggestions are put forward on the poverty -reduction of China.     

Mites and merchants: the crisis of English wool and textile trade revisited,c. 1275–1330†

On the basis of 7,871 manorial accounts from 601 sheep-rearing demesnes and 187 tithe receipts from 15 parishes, this article addresses the origins, scale, and impact of the wool and textile production crisis in England, c. 1275–1350. The article argues that recurrent outbreaks of scab disease depressed sheep population and wool production levels until the early 1330s. The disease, coupled with warfare and taxation, also had a decisive role in depressing the volumes of wool exports. Despite this fact, wool merchants were still conducting business with major wool producers, who desperately needed access to the capital to replenish their flocks.