Chinese Household Income Project Survey Research Articles

Lineage-based heterogeneity and cooperative behavior in rural China

This paper investigates how lineages, the commonly found organizations in rural villages of China, affect people's intra- and cross-lineage cooperative behavior. We use data from the Chinese Household Income Project Survey 2002, which exclusively contains information about the lineage structure in these villages allowing us to classify three levels of lineage-based heterogeneity. Our identification strategy relies on the exogeneity of lineage-based heterogeneity. We find evidence that people in a village with higher lineage-based heterogeneity are less likely to exhibit reciprocity behavior within lineages or contribute to the provision of public goods that are jointly shared across lineages. The estimation results remain robust to the inclusion of various control variables and additional background characteristics. Finally, we examine a number of other economic outcomes and find that more homogenous villages do better than other types of villages.

Influence Factors on Gender Wage Gap: Evidences from Chinese Household Income Project Survey

By constructing a gender wage gap evolution model, this paper examines the source and evolutionary process of gender wage inequality from a theoretical perspective. The purpose of this study is thoroughly investigating the factors affecting the gender wage inequality from the perspective of gender discrimination and variations in non-gender endowments. Based on the Chinese Household Income Project Survey Data, this study indicates that: (1) since companies continue to re-evaluate the gender endowment value of gender, the gender wage inequality exhibits an endogenous sustainability and self-reinforcing effect. (2) The gender wage gap of urban residents is derived mainly from the top tier of wages, while the gender wage gap of the migrant people is mainly determined from the bottom rung of wages. (3) Female age has a ‘U-curve’ impact on gender wage inequality from the standpoint of non-gender endowment differences, and the female age has an ‘inverted U-curve’ impact on gender wage inequality as a result of discrimination. (4) Female appearance and actual work hours are insufficient to affect the changing trend of gender wage inequality; however, h-register location and marital status are still considered to be very important.

Contribution of household income components to the level and rise of inequality in urban China

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates how changes in the structure of household income have affected inequality in urban China during the reform period. We conducted an inequality decomposition analysis by income sources using the household-level data from the Chinese Household Income Project Surveys for 1988, 1995 and 2002. The analysis reveals that the contribution of wages and salaries to inequality has declined over the years. Business income, which served as the inequality enhancing component in 1988, has turned into an inequality reducing force in 1995 and 2002. The marginal analysis reveals that 1% increase in business income neutralises about two-thirds of the increase in inequality caused by an equivalent increase in wages and salaries. Some business issues and policy options are discussed.

Lineage-Based Heterogeneity and Cooperative Behavior in Rural China

This paper investigates how lineages, the commonly found organizations in rural villages of China, affect people’s intra- and cross-lineage cooperative behavior. We use data from the Chinese Household Income Project Survey 2002, which exclusively contains information about the lineage structure in these villages allowing us to classify three levels of lineage-based heterogeneity. Our identification strategy relies on the exogeneity of lineage-based heterogeneity. We find evidence that people in a village with higher lineage-based heterogeneity are less likely to exhibit reciprocity behavior within lineages or contribute to the provision of public goods that are jointly shared across lineages. The estimation results remain robust to the inclusion of various control variables and additional background characteristics. Finally, we examine a number of other economic outcomes and find that more homogenous villages do better than other types of villages.

Changes of Wage Structures in Chinese Public and Private Sectors: 1995-2007

Using CHIP (Chinese Household Income Project Survey) data and the sample selection bias corrected wage function model, this paper estimated changes in wage structure in China by ownership types (SOEs, COEs, FEs, and PEs) in 1995 and 2007. The major conclusions are as follows. First, effects of education on wage levels in SOEs and FEs become greater, while education effects decrease in SOEs and PEs under economic transition periods; firm-specific human capital becomes more important in the wage determination mechanism along with market-oriented reforms in SOEs, PEs, and FEs; age effect decreases in SOEs and COEs, but it becomes greater in PEs and FEs. Second, there exist wage structure differences between sectors by wage distributions. For example, in 2007, in SOEs, education return rates are higher for the low-wage and middle-wage groups, and the effect is the highest at the 40th percentile. However in COEs and FEs, education return rates are higher for the high-wage groups, and the effect is the highest at the 70th percentile in COEs and at the 70th percentile in FEs. Tenure effects are greater in the middle-wage groups (40th-80th) in SOEs, COEs, and FEs, and age effects are greater in the low-wage groups (5th-30th) in SOEs, FEs, and PEs.

City Size and Wage Disparity in Segmented Labour Market in China

The relation between city size and wage inequality is well established for Western countries. This paper finds that city size–wage premium exists across Chinese cities to a lower extent than the Western world. Further, using a simplified model on the Chinese Household Income Project survey data, we find that the city size–wage premium varies with difference in skills among urban citizens. The variation amounts to 50% more for the high-skill workers compared with their low-skill counterparts. Moreover, owing to the presence of segmented labour market, the patterns of city size–wage premium and city size–wage inequality premium are notably different for the migrants, who receive a much lesser wage than the citizens and do not experience wage variation owing to their skill heterogeneity.

Impacts of Minimum Wage Policy on Wage Distributions in Urban China: Comparison between Public and Private Sectors

Using Chinese Household Income Project survey (CHIP) data, this study analyzes the impact of the Minimum Wage (MW) policy on average wage and wage distribution in urban China in the 1993-1995, the 1998-2002, and the 2007-2013 periods, and compared the MW effects between public and private sectors. Several major conclusions emerged from this study. First, comparatively, the overall impact of the MW on average wage in the 1993-1995 period is greater than the effect of the MW level on the average wage. Second, the MW effects on average wage exist in both the public and private sectors. However, holding the other factors consistent, the MW effect on average wage is greater for the private sector than for the public sector. Third, the overall effects of MW level on the low-wage group increased in the 2007-2013 period. Fourth, the effects of MW on wage distribution are greater for the private sector than for the public sector in the three periods. Holding the other factors consistent, the impact of MW on the low-wage group for the private sector increased greatly than for the public sector in the 2007-2013 period. Fifth, decomposition results indicated that the differences of distribution proportions, in regions with different MW levels between the public and private sectors helped reduce the wage gaps, as did the MW effects on wage, which were greater for the private sector than for the public sector in the 1993-1995 and 2007-2013 periods.

Weights and substitution degree in multidimensional well-being in China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to combine multidimensional welfare analysis and entropy metrics to derive not only the best relative weights but also substitution degree among different attributes to construct multidimensional indices of well-being with Chinese Household Income Project Survey 2002 data. Design/methodology/approach – The authors follow Maasoumi’s two-step measures of multivariate inequality to calculate the inequality for three social groups in China, urban residents, migrants, and rural residents. The two-step approach provides an aggregation formula which is numerically identified in this paper based on a metric entropy distance measure between the distribution of the aggregate well-being functions, on the one hand, and the distribution of the self-reported “happiness” indicator. The authors compare the differences in relative weights and substitution degree for the three groups, and link them to some institutional factors. Findings – The authors find that incorporating substitut...

The Effects of the State Sector on Wage Inequality in Urban China: 1988–2007

This paper examines the effects of state sector domination on wage inequality in urban China. Using Chinese Household Income Project surveys, we conduct two exercises: with quantile regression analysis, we identify wage gaps across the distribution and over time; and we employ the Machado and Mata (2005) decomposition to investigate how urban wage inequality was affected by the changes in wage structure and employment share of the state sector. We find that since the radical state sector reforms designed to reduce over-staffing and improve efficiency since the late 1990s, urban wage gaps were narrowed due to the reduction of employment share in the state sector; the wage premium of the state sector in comparison with the non-state sector increased significantly; and changes in the wage structure of the labour market caused the rise in urban wage inequality.

Growing out of Poverty: Trends and Patterns of Urban Poverty in China 1988–2002

This paper estimates trends in absolute poverty in urban China using the Chinese Household Income Project surveys. Poverty incidence curves are plotted, showing lower poverty in 2002 than in 1988 irrespective of the poverty line chosen. Incomes of the poorest fell during 1988–95, contributing to a rise in inequality. However, inequality has been fairly constant thereafter. Models of the determination of income and poverty reveal widening differentials by education, sex, and Communist Party membership. Income from government anti-poverty programs has little impact on poverty, which has fallen almost entirely due to overall economic growth rather than redistribution.

How Do Heterogeneous Social Interactions Affect the Peer Effect in Rural-Urban Migration?: Empirical Evidence from China

In this paper, we use the 2002 Chinese Household Income Project Survey (CHIP2002) data to examine how heterogeneous social interactions affect the peer effect in the rural-urban migration decision in China. We find that the peer effect, measured by the village migration ratio, significantly increases the individual probability of outward migration. We also find that the magnitude of the peer effect is nonlinear, depending on the strength and type of social interactions with other villagers. Interactions in information sharing can increase the magnitude of the peer effect, while interactions in mutual help in labor activities, such as help in housing construction, nursing and farm work in busy seasons, will impede the positive role of the peer effect. Being aware of the simultaneity bias caused by the two-way causality between social interaction strengths and migration, we utilize historical family political identity in land reform as an instrumental variable for social interactions. However, the hypothesis that probit and instrumental-variable probit results are not significantly different is not rejected. The existence of a nonlinear peer effect has rich policy implications. For policy makers to encourage rural-urban migration, it is feasible to increase education investment in rural areas or increase information sharing among rural residents. However, only an increase in the constant term in the regression, i.e., a big push in improving institutions for migration, can help rural Chinese residents escape the low equilibrium in migration.

The Causes about the Change of Gender Wage Differentials in Urban China: Empirical Analysis Using 1995 and 2002 Chinese Household Income Project Surveys

The Causes about the Change of Gender Wage Differentials in Urban China: Empirical Analysis Using 1995 and 2002 Chinese Household Income Project Surveys