 Growth Pattern, Employment, and Income Inequality: What the Experience of Republic of Korea and Taipei, China Reveals to the People’s Republic of ChinaShi Li and Chuliang Luo Asian Development Review (ADR), 2008, vol. 25, issue 01n02, 100-118 Abstract: The People’s Republic of China (PRC) achieved rapid economic growth during the last 30 years, but its income distribution has worsened. In contrast, Republic of Korea and Taipei, China experienced high growth for several decades after the 1950s, while managing to keep income inequality low. This paper looks at development experiences of Republic of Korea and Taipei,China in the 1950s–1990s, and concludes that the key to achieving high growth with low inequality in the two economies was the adoption of a growth strategy that promoted development of labor-intensive industries and small- and medium-size enterprises. The creation of large amounts of employment opportunities to absorb rural surplus labor and reduce urban unemployment played a key role in keeping income inequality low. The paper argues that to reduce income inequality in the PRC, the government should shift to a more labor-intensive development strategy, encourage the development of small and medium enterprises, and unify the labor market. Date: 2008 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:adrxxx:v:25:y:2008:i:01n02:n:s011611050850008x Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1142/S011611050850008X Access Statistics for this article Asian Development Review (ADR) is currently edited by Tetsushi Sonobe More articles in Asian Development Review (ADR) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. |
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