China’s Retreat from Equality: Income Distribution and Economic Transition

Basing their work on two national surveys of household income in China - in 1988 and 1995 - leading Chinese and Western economists explore a wide range of aspects of the rapidly changing income distribution that occurred during this critical period of reform and transition to a market system. They consider increasing inequality and its causes, urban wages, the gender earnings gap, rural migration, income distribution and food security, and more.