Analysis of China's Unequal Income Distribution from the Perspective of Functional Income Distribution

Abstract

中国收入分配的不平等在很大程度上表现为功能性收入分配的不平等，即随着经 济的发展,工资性收入占国民收入的比例越来越小，而现阶段中国二元经济结构下的 无限劳动力供给则是其主要原因。在一个具有凯恩斯主义特征的非均衡动态模型框架 下，我们的分析表明，劳动力的无限供给，不仅使工资无法对劳动力市场的供求状况 进行反应，而且使劳动生产率和物价变化对工资的影响也不敏感。这意味着，当存在 着劳动生产率的提高或由经济增长所带动的物价上涨时，工资的提高不够显著，从而 由经济增长或劳动生产率的提高所带来的利益大部分转化为利润而非工资。基于此， 要彻底扭转中国收入分配恶化趋势，根本途径仍然是保持经济的高速增长，加快工业 化和城市化进程，从而使农村剩余劳动力能够尽快被吸收。 关键词: 功能性收入 二元经济 劳动力供给 China's unequal income distribution is to a large extent expressed in unequal functional income distribution, that is, as China's economy develops, the share of wage income in national income falls. The unlimited supply of labor under China's current dual economic structure is the major reason for this. In a disequilibrium dynamic model framework with Keynesian features, empirical analysis shows that the unlimited supply of labor not only prevents wages from responding to supply and demand situation in the labor market, but also makes them insensitive to labor productivity and price changes. This suggests that when there is a rise in labor productivity or prices following economic growth, the rise in wages may not be sufficiently marked. The benefits derived from economic growth or labor productivity increases have been, to a very large extent, converted into profits and not wages. Therefore, if we are to reverse China's worsening income distribution, our fundamental path should remain the maintenance of high‐speed growth and the acceleration of urbanization and industrialization so that surplus rural labor can be absorbed as soon as possible.