 Increasing urban wage inequality in ChinaJohn Knight and Lina Song The Economics of Transition, 2003, vol. 11, issue 4, 597-619 Abstract: Two strictly comparable cross‐section household datasets, relating to 1988 and 1995, are used to analyse the increase in wage inequality from an initially low level in urban China over this period of labour market reform. The institutional background and the evolution of policy are described. The rapid growth of wage inequality and the sharp widening of wage structure are quantified. Earnings functions are compared, and the increase in both the level and the inequality of wages are decomposed into their constituent elements. Quantile regression analysis is conducted to throw light on the relationships between the observed and the unobserved determinants of wages. Distinctions are made between the variables likely to represent human capital, discrimination, and segmentation. The evidence suggests that productive characteristics were increasingly rewarded as marketization occurred, but that discrimination and segmentation also grew. The move towards a fully‐fledged labour market was by no means complete. Date: 2003 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:etrans:v:11:y:2003:i:4:p:597-619 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article The Economics of Transition is currently edited by Philippe Aghion and Wendy Carlin More articles in The Economics of Transition from The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Contact information at EDIRC. |
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