Does COVID-19 Exacerbate Regional Income Inequality? Evidence from 20 Provinces of China

Wei Wan, Jue Wang and Weimin Jiang ()
Additional contact information
Wei Wan: School of Economics & Management, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, China
Jue Wang: School of Economics & Management, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, China
Weimin Jiang: College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210009, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on almost all aspects of society and the world’s economy. This study aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 on regional income inequality in China. Based on provincial data from 20 provinces (covering 218 prefecture-level cities) for the period from 2013 to 2022, the study revealed the significant impact of COVID-19 on widening regional income inequality, using a continuous difference-in-differences (DID) model. The results were robust when applying a parallel trend test, lagging control variables, and alternative measures of regional income inequality to test the results. Additional analysis suggested that the adverse impact of COVID-19 on regional income inequality was increased by regions’ foreign trade dependence and their share in the service industry but may have been weakened by the development of the digital economy. The findings highlight the adverse effects of COVID-19 on regional income inequality.

Keywords: COVID-19; regional income inequality; DID (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11894/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11894/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11894-:d:1209103

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().