Remapping China's Regional Inequalities, 1990-2006: A New Assessment of de Facto and de Jure Population Data

Abstract

Two U.S.-based geographers use the most recent data to explain the complexity of China's provincial de jure and de facto population statistics and their relationship to computed inequality indices of per capita GDP. After reviewing the literature, the paper focuses on trends in regional inequality in China during the 1990s, and contends that the consensus view about the increase of inequality during the late 1990s is based on erroneous interpretation and faulty application of de jure provincial population series, which has resulted in significant overstatement of interprovincial inequality in 2000. The analysis presented in this paper shows that, after a significant rise in the first half of the 1990s, China's regional economic disparities began to level off in the second half of the 1990s and have persisted at about the same level since then. The authors proffer explanations for the stability in regional inequality since 1995, especially stressing the role of long-distance migration. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: I31, O18, R12. 6 figures, 10 tables, 105 references.