Disparities in Chinese economic development: approaches on different levels of aggregation

Abstract

Based on a new and recent set of data on economic development in the Chinese prefectures, the paper investigates the impact of different levels of spatial aggregation on the assessment of regional disparities in China. We analyze the structure of inequalities in the light of a component analysis of the general measure of entropy, which is applied on inter-regional disparities with reference to different levels of aggregation as well as the rural/urban segmentation. We reach the conclusion that lower levels of data aggregation are to be recommended for policy purposes, that nationally homogenous discrimination still impacts favorably on urban areas, and that in many rural areas, there is a clear growth trend with diminishing regional disparities.