The Chinese Economy and Income Inequality among East Asian Countries

Sumie Sato and Mototsugu Fukushige ()
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Sumie Sato: Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University

No 10-06, Discussion Papers in Economics and Business from Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics

Abstract: Using the Atkinson inequality measure of income distribution, we analyze the impact of China as a single country and examine the effect of its domestic income inequality on total income inequality among East Asian countries. First, we find that China's domestic income inequality exacerbated income inequality among East Asian countries from the 1980s, and this effect became even more pronounced from 1990. Second, the growth of China's per capita GDP had an equalizing effect on income distribution in a framework of ASEAN + China, but this effect was reversed around 1997. However, relative to higher income countries such as Japan and South Korea, China's per capita GDP remains low, and although China has contributed to income inequality in the area, it has recently had a more equalizing effect.

Keywords: East Asia; China; income inequality; free trade agreement; harmonious society (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 F43 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2010-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-sea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osk:wpaper:1006

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