Revisiting Income Inequality in China from an Evolving Productivity Perspective

作     者：Zhang Lei 张磊

作者机构：Business SchoolXiangtan UniversityXiangtanChina 2Research Center for Socialist Economic TheoriesXiangtan University 

出 版 物：《China Economist》 (中国经济学人（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2021年第16卷第2期

页      面：44-59页

学科分类：02[经济学] 0201[经济学-理论经济学] 020105[经济学-世界经济] 

基　　金：This paper is an outcome of the Social Science Research Results Review Committee Project of Hunan Province“Income Inequality in China from an Evolving Productivity Perspective:1978-2019”(Grant No.XSP20YBZ109) 

主　　题：maximum feasible inequality inequality possibility frontier(IPF) inequality extraction rate(IER) tolerable inequality 

摘      要：Income inequality in China has evolved substantially amid rising productivity since reform and opening up in the late *** on the group decomposition equation for Gini coefficient,this paper estimates China’s inequality possibility frontier(IPF)and the inequality extraction rate(IER).Results indicate that:(i)From 1978 to 2017,China’s IPF continuously expanded amid improving productivity,and the maximum feasible Gini coefficient rose from 0.2281 to 0.8446.(ii)Meanwhile,China’s overall IER decreased from 123%to 55%.More specifically,China’s IER fell sharply over the period 1978-1980,stabilized in the period from the mid-1980s to 2012,and further declined after the 18th CPC National Congress in ***,55%of China’s maximum feasible inequality has been converted into actual *** correlation between inequality and productivity is recognized in academia but seldom explored in the *** fill this void,this paper empirically measures inequality in light of productivity *** research conclusions explain why yawning income gaps in China have been tolerated since reform and opening up,and offer empirical evidence for setting income distribution policies according to economic development in the new era.