Market Transition and Income Inequality in Urban China： Evidence from Shapley Value Decomposition

作     者：Chunjin Chen Shi Li 

作者机构：Institute of Economics and Education Beijing Normal University Beijing 100875 China School of Economics and Business Administration Beijing Normal University Beijing100875 China 

出 版 物：《Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities》 (中国高等学校学术文摘·经济学（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2014年第9卷第2期

页      面：309-337页

学科分类：0501[文学-中国语言文学] 0304[法学-民族学] 0302[法学-政治学] 03[法学] 05[文学] 050107[文学-中国少数民族语言文学（分语族）] 

基　　金：The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71173020)  and the Visiting Research Scholarship (20123013) awarded to Chunjin Chen by the China Scholarship Council. We would like to thank Yongmei Hu and Yuhong Du for valuable comments 

主　　题：market transition income inequality Shapley value decomposition JELClassification 

摘      要：China＇s market-oriented reform is expected to strengthen the role of the market in allocating resources, which raises concerns over the impact of market transformation on income distribution and earnings inequality in the past decades. This paper decomposes the sources of inequality based on the newly developed Shapley value approach and examines the contributions of the market, along with other nonmarket factors, to total inequality. Using the China Health and Nutrition Survey data over the period 1989-2009, we find that the income gap between laborers with a higher level of education and those with a lower level has widened since the transformational reforms of the economy. Our results suggest that the largest contribution of changes in income inequality can be attributed to the increase in returns to education, while the relative contributions of the household registration （hukou） system, type of sector ownership, geographic location, and gender to inequality experienced a downward trend between 1989 and 2009. The authors argue that rising income inequality is the consequence of efficiency improvements and an imperfect economic system, and that the market is a decisive force in economic development as it releases competitive signals and creates incentive mechanisms for innovation. Creating a more efficient labor market and increasing investment in human capital, particularly equalizing educational opportunities and improving the quality of education in lagging rural and inland regions to disadvantaged groups, are significant for an equitable distribution of income and sustainable development in the long run.