Inter-provincial Inequality Research Articles

Inter-provincial inequality of public health services in China: the perspective of local officials\u2019 behavior

BackgroundAfter economic reform, China experienced rising public health services inequality between the eastern developed and mid-west undeveloped provinces. The fiscal transfer payment system which aims to shape the disparities was considered inefficient. However, there are only a few studies that address the political reason when analyzing the inter-provincial public health services inequality. And the previous studies did not consider a possible non-linear relationship between the fiscal transfer payments and the inter-provincial public health services equalization.MethodsThis paper argues that the local officials’ fanatical pursuit of local economic growth which driven by the Political Promotion Tournament and the polarized fiscal self-sufficiency (fiscal capacities) of local governments are responsible for the inter-provincial inequality of public health services and the inefficiency of fiscal transfer payments. By constructing panel threshold regression models with fiscal self-sufficiency of local governments as threshold variable, this study tries to empirically investigate the optimal level of the local governments’ self-sufficiency at which the fiscal transfer payments can effectively promote equalization.ResultsThreshold effects exist between fiscal transfer payments and inter-provincial public health services equalization. The effects on inter-provincial public health services equalization show trends that first increase and then decrease as the fiscal self-sufficiency of local governments increases. And there exist a range of fiscal self-sufficiency between 29.236 and 43.765% or between 28.575 and 45.746% for local governments where the fiscal transfer payments can effectively achieve equalization. Currently, the vast majority of provinces in China remain in the ineffective regime where the fiscal transfer payments are inefficient in shaping inequality.ConclusionsThis paper explains the reason of inequality in public health services and the inefficiency of fiscal transfer payment system from Chinese local officials’ behavior aspect, and try to find out an effective solution by focusing on the local government’s fiscal capacity. The effective way to narrow the inequality is to establish a flexible tax-sharing system to adjust local governments’ fiscal capacities and give local governments with low fiscal self-sufficiency more fiscal resources. The new policy measures recently launched by Chinese central government coincide with our recommendations.

Polarization of CO2 emissions in China's electricity sector: Production versus consumption perspectives

Abstract The inter-provincial inequality of per capita CO2 emissions in China's electricity sector means that their responsibilities for CO2 emission reduction are different. Considering the spatial separation of CO2 emissions in power production and consumption, with respect to the large scale inter-provincial electricity trade in China, this paper innovatively investigates the sub-national inequality and polarization degree of per capita CO2 emissions in China's electric power sector from the perspectives of both production and consumption. The overall tendencies of the sub-national polarization degrees of per capita CO2 emissions embodied in the both electric power consumption and production in China show an increasing trend. The results indicate that the polarization distribution of per capita CO2 emissions is still one of the important factors leading to difficulties in achieving the new reduction arrangements. The evolution of the bi-polarization analysis shows that the grouping results of per capita CO2 emissions are different from production and consumption perspectives, as well as the high- and low-emission groups have significantly different characteristics. The inequality and polarization degree of per capita CO2 emissions in China's electric power sector have changed as the CO2 emissions embodied in the electricity trade had been taken into account. One-Size-Fits-All Strategies are unlikely to be successful in advancing the provincial cooperation on CO2 emissions reduction.

Effect modification of social-context changes on mental disability in China from 1987 to 2006: a multi-level study of 1.9 million people

BackgroundVery little literature has explored how mental disability in China is connected with inequalities in social and environmental contexts. In the study described herein, we determine whether social-context inequalities were associated with mental disability in China from 1987 to 2006.MethodsData were derived from national representative population-based data from the 1987 and 2006 China National Sample Survey on Disability. Both surveys used multistage, stratified random cluster sampling, with a probability proportionate to size, to derive nationally representative samples. A multilevel logistic regression model was applied to estimate the effects of province-specific contextual characteristics on men and women. We also examined the association with mental disability risk stratified by selected covariates. Study populations were (N = 698,810) in 1987 and (N = 1,260,947) in 2006.ResultMost of the province-level variables in the 1987 and 2006 surveys were unrelated to mental disability risks in either men or women after controlling for individual characteristics. The age-adjusted prevalence of mental disability nearly doubled among men and women from 1987 to 2006. The effects of the province-specific prevalence of agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery activities and the percentage of the population age 65 and over significantly lowered the risk of mental disability among women in 1987, by 48 and 32%, respectively. Moreover, the number of health professionals modified the association with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) among women but only in 1987.ConclusionTo face the challenges of mental disability and interprovincial inequality, the Chinese government should adjust its strategies not only for health-care systems but also to correct for inequalities in interprovincial development; this action may help prevent mental disability.

Migration and regional inequality: changing characteristics of China’s economic inequality

Scholars studying economic inequality in China have maintained that regional inequality and economic divergence across provinces have steadily increased over the past 30 years. New studies have shown that this trend is a statistical aberration; calculations show that instead of quickly and sharply rising, regional inequality has actually decreased, and most recently, remained stable. Our study suggests that China’s unique migratory regime is crucial to understanding these findings. We conduct a counterfactual simulation to demonstrate how migration and remittances have mitigated income inequality across provinces in order to show that without these processes, we would have seen more of a rise in interprovincial income inequality. We conclude by arguing that inequality in China is still increasing, but it is changing and becoming less place-based. As regional inequality decreases, there are signs that point to the increasing importance of interpersonal inequality.

Rising Regional Inequality in China: Fact or Artifact?

Summary China’s local populations can be counted in two ways: people with hukou household registration from each place, and people actually residing in each place. For most of the first three decades of the reform era the hukou count denominated per capita GDP figures. Output and living standards were overstated in coastal provinces and understated in the interior. The distortion grew bigger as the non-hukou migrants increased to over 100 million. Much of the apparent increase in inter-provincial inequality is a statistical artifact caused by this distortion. The recent switch to using the resident count to denominate GDP introduced new distortions.

Wage disparities in China: an analysis by firm types

This paper investigates the evolution of interprovincial wage inequality and the causes behind its increase over the last two decades. We focus more specifically on the impact of export-led-market reforms on wages disparities within and between five firm types in China. When measured with the GE(1) index, overall wage inequality among Chinese provinces increased by 50% between 1993 and 2007, most notably during the early 1990s as China accelerated its integration into the world economy. The inequality analysis by firm type suggests that increased international competition has had a large impact on wage inequality among domestic firms but almost none on inequality among foreign firms. The panel analysis conducted in this paper also suggests that factors enhancing labor productivity such as larger capital stock endowment per worker and better infrastructure endowment have a greater impact on wage inequality than an increase in economic integration, particularly for domestic firms located in the interior region.

Carbon inequality at the sub-national scale: A case study of provincial-level inequality in CO2 emissions in China 1997–2007

This study asks whether sub-national inequalities in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions mirror international patterns in carbon inequality using the case study of China. Several studies have examined global-level carbon inequality; however, such approaches have not been used on a sub-national scale. This study examines inter-provincial inequality in CO2 emissions within China using common measures of inequality (coefficient of variation, Gini Index, Theil Index) to analyze provincial-level data derived from the IPCC reference approach for the years 1997–2007. It decomposes CO2 emissions inequality into its inter-regional and intra-regional components. Patterns of per capita CO2 emissions inequality in China appear superficially similar to, though slightly lower than, per capita income inequality. However, decomposing these inequalities reveals different patterns. While inter-provincial income inequality is highly regional in character, inter-provincial CO2 emissions inequality is primarily intra-regional. While apparently similar, global patterns in CO2 emissions are not mirrored at the sub-national scale.

Factor Decomposition of Rural Income Inequalities in China

A Chinese geographer explores changes in inter-provincial rural income inequality in China since the late-1970s economic reforms by decomposing it into different component factors based on the Gini index (more specifically, into contributions by different income sources: wages, household operations, properties, and transfers). The influence of each factor on inequality changes is further decomposed into its structure effects and its real inequality effects. Quantitative analysis then makes it possible to determine the relative influence of each component on changes in rural provincial inequality over time.

Globalisation and the provinces of China: the role of domestic versus international trade integration

Regional disparities are particularly high in some larger emerging economies, such as Russia and China, and inter-provincial inequality in China has increased rapidly after 1990. In the literature, a statistical link between globalisation and increased regional disparities in China has been established, but not the precise mechanisms and causal relationships. In the paper, we therefore simulate a world trade model with 166 countries and regions in order to shed light on these mechanisms and the future development of regional disparities in China. Our results suggest that the faster growth in coastal regions may be caused by the role of these regions as transport hubs for international trade. However, uneven growth could also be caused by domestic trade disintegration, as suggested by some other research. In the paper, we demonstrate these mechanisms, but we are not able to draw firm conclusions about the relative role each of them play empirically. The weaker development for some peripheral regions can be reversed by stronger domestic trade integration or better cross-border infrastructure.

New evidence about regional income divergence in China

There are many empirical studies trying to test if there is income convergence across the provinces of China. In this paper, we bring new information to the current literature by applying non-linear panel unit root test of Exponential Smooth Auto-Regressive Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ESTAR-ADF) unit root test developed by Cerrato et al. (2008) to the time series data for the period 1952–2003. The number of converging provinces decreases in the post-reform period when using panel ESTAR-ADF test. Furthermore, our results find evidence of increasing regional disparity that has been prevailing in China since the open door economic reforms of the late 1970s, which confirms the view of Pedroni and Yao (2006) that interprovincial inequalities have been widening since 1978. In addition, we also examine the determinants of conditional convergence in China. The results indicate that low inflation, transport and telecommunication infrastructure, and trade openness could stimulate economic growth in China. Human capital also play a significant role in growth, and it exhibits non-linearity between human capital and growth in the sense that at low levels of human capital the effect on growth is negative and became positive at middle levels.

Measuring inter-provincial income inequality in China: a sensitivity analysis

China's regional inequality is a hotly debated topic in the literature, but the fundamental issue of measurement has somehow escaped from the deliberations. In this paper, we select several commonly used income indicators, inequality indices and concepts to measure China's inter-provincial inequality and compare the results. We find China's inter-provincial inequality is very sensitive to different measurements. These sensitivity analyses help us to understand the ongoing debates on China's regional income inequality. We also conduct a cross-country comparison to illustrate the broad ranking of China's regional inequality in the world. We find that China's regional inequality appears not to be as high as usually perceived, despite approaching an alarming level.

Regional Inequality in China, 1978-2006

Using the most recent statistical data, two U.S.-based geographers document the changes and level of regional inequality in China for the period 1978-2006, in order to shed light on whether recent government efforts toward inequality reduction have had observable effects. The paper reveals the spatial dynamics that underlie regional inequality by decomposing interprovincial inequality into its interregional and intraregional components, and investigating the growth trajectories of regions and provinces. The authors demonstrate that interprovincial inequality declined during the 1980s, increased in the 1990s, was relatively stable from the late 1990s to 2004, and has declined thereafter. Through closer analysis, they show how the trend in interprovincial inequality up to 2004 has been shaped by countervailing patterns in (declining) intraregional inequality and (increasing) interregional inequality. Since 2004, however, the study reveals that both interregional and intraregional inequalities have declined, reflecting convergence in growth rates among provinces and among regions. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: I31, O18, R12. 9 figures, 1 table, 77 references, 1 appendix.

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

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.

FORCES SHAPING CHINA'S INTERPROVINCIAL INEQUALITY

This paper explores the forces that shaped China's interprovincial inequality in the last five decades of Communist rule. In so far as the change in interprovincial inequality is the result of differential growth in provincial GDP per capita and provincial economic growth, it may be decomposed into contributions by total factor productivity (TFP) and other factor inputs. A new method is introduced to make this decomposition. Care is exercised in taking into account problems of Chinese official data when implementing the decomposition analysis. The findings suggest that TFP and factor inputs exerted different and sometimes opposing effects on interprovincial inequality in the Maoist and reform era. The increase in inequality from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s is due to the contribution of TFP overwhelming that of physical capital. The opposite is true for the 1980s. The increase in the 1990s is mainly driven by the skewed distribution of investments in favor of the richer coastal provinces reinforced by the increasing contribution of TFP.

China's Household Income and Its Distribution, 1995 and 2002

A new, independently designed household income survey for China in 2002 shows some decline in income inequality in both rural and urban China since 1995. However, the overall Gini ratio for China remained unchanged due to a rise in the urban–rural income gap. The reduction in rural inequality stemmed mainly from a fall in both inter-provincial inequality and inequality within most of the provinces, as well as from a further improvement in the distribution of wage income and farm income and a reduction in the regressiveness of net taxes. The reduction in urban inequality came from a fall in inter-provincial inequality and better distribution of imputed rental income and net taxes. The results raise questions about whether recent more equity-oriented policies, such as the “great western development strategy,” began to reduce some dimensions of overall income inequality. For the first time, a special survey was implemented to furnish data on migrants living in towns and cities. Incorporating the migrants into the urban population raises urban inequality and reduces the urban–rural gap somewhat, but leaves the latter still very high by international standards.

Changes in the source of China's regional inequality

This paper examines whether the dominant sources of China's regional inequality have changed since the early 1980s. We adopt the decomposition method introduced by Tsui (1993) to facilitate comparisons with his results for 1982. The decomposition analysis shows that the dominant sources of overall regional inequality in output have shifted from the intraprovincial to interprovincial inequality, from the rural–urban to intrarural inequality, and also from the disparity within the coast to between the coast and the interior. In the case of consumption, however, the intraprovincial inequality, the rural–urban inequality, and the disparity within the coast are the major factors of the overall regional inequality.

The Political Economy of Uneven Development: The Case of China. Wang Shaoguang , Hu Angang

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsThe Political Economy of Uneven Development: The Case of China. Wang Shaoguang , Hu Angang Lance L. P. GoreLance L. P. Gore Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 44Jul., 2000 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2667497 Views: 17Total views on this site Citations: 4Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright The China JournalPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Jeffrey S. Zax Provincial Valuations of Human Capital in Urban China, Inter-provincial Inequality and the Implicit Value of a Guangdong Hukou, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2019).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3362648Wen Wang, Zhirong Jerry Zhao Rural Taxation Reforms and Compulsory Education Finance in China, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2010).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1669908Derek C. Jones, Cheng Li, Ann L. Owen Growth and Regional Inequality in China During the Reform Era, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2003).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.405843Sylvie Demurger, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Wing Thye Woo, Shu Ming Bao, Gene Hsin Chang, Andrew D. Mellinger Geography, Economic Policy and Regional Development in China, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2001).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.286672

Reshaping Education in the New South Africa

The apartheid legacy in education poses major constraints to the creation of equal opportunity. The task of post-apartheid reconstruction is as much spatial as structural. This article explores spatial aspects of human and financial resource provision, focusing on issues which have dominated educational policy debates since 1994. It argues the economic and social importance of education for South Africa, and considers the cautious reforms introduced in the early 1990s. Rural/urban inequalities are emphasised with reference to community schools in former black homelands, farm schools and township schools. Inequalities between the new provinces, which are responsible for primary and secondary education, primarily reflect the racial distribution of population. State policies seek redistribution of resources between provinces, but provincial autonomy in the use of resources is shown to be widening inter-provincial inequalities. National policies for teacher redeployment have been compromised by theoperation of voluntary severance packages. These problems are illustrated by case shtdies ofthe contrasting provinces of Gauteng and Eastern Cape.

Infant and perinatal mortality in Spain 1981-1991: interprovincial variations in Autonomous Communities with extreme economic levels.

The aims of the present study were to describe and compare infant, neonatal, postneonatal and perinatal mortality in aggregates of Spanish Autonomous Communities (AC) with higher and lower income, as well as to describe and compare their respective inequalities among the provinces constituting AC with similar (high or low) and with extreme economic levels, over the period from 1981 to 1991. The coefficient of variation (weighted by the number of births) has been used as the measure of interprovincial inequalities in mortality within each aggregate of AC and time trends in the average mortality rates and in their coefficients of variation have been analyzed using simple linear regression. The results of the study confirmed that the four mortality rates were all higher in the aggregate of AC of lower income than in that of higher income, and have fallen in both in a similar manner. Thus the perinatal mortality rates for the lower and higher income aggregates of AC respectively were 17.3 and 12.5 per 1000 births in 1981, and 8.3 and 6.8 in 1991. The inequality in postneonatal mortality was dominant in the group of AC with a lower economic level whereas geographical inequalities in perinatal mortality predominated in the higher income group. The predominance of interprovincial inequalities in perinatal mortality when all the AC (with extreme economic levels) were considered suggest that economic factors are closely related to perinatal mortality.

Untangling the Politics of Electoral Boundaries in Canada, 1993–1997

Introduction On 18 March 1994, the government introduced Bill C-18, An Act to Suspend the Operation of the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act (EBRA). Ultimately, the suspension expired and the redistribution based on the 1991 census was completed. The events leading up to and during the suspension, including the drafting of new legislation, have important lessons for us in how we understand redistribution and parliamentary practice. Following a discussion of the redistribution events and politics between 1993 and 1997, this paper argues that there were three but independent parts of a complete explanation: a parliament, a politician, and a story. The parliament story is about the Senate-House conflict that the suspension triggered and, as such, is not about redistribution per se. The politician story is about the role of self-interest in motivating the suspension and the character of the proposed new legislation. Many commentators do not go beyond this important but narrow explanation. A third story--representation--about the importance of place relative to equality of voting power in Canadian redistribution legislation, is necessary to account for the character of the politics of redistribution in Canada. The Historical-Legal Framework of Electoral Boundaries in Canada The Constitution requires a boundary readjustment after every decennial census, but it does not mandate how this readjustment should take place. Committees of the House of Commons tackled this function for the six redistributions between 1921 and 1952 (Ward 1967). All subsequent redistributions have been completed by independent commissions established under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, 1964. The use of independent commissions reflects a desire to remove political considerations from the process (Courtney 1985) and, to be legitimate, all future legislation must appear to be free from obvious political manipulation or gerrymandering. The legislation requires that, after the decennial census, commissions be established in each of the provinces with membership determined by the Speaker of the House of Commons. The commissions are required to publish their proposals and then engage in a public consultation process before finalizing the new boundaries. Finally, a parliamentary committee hears objections from M.P.'s and writes a report with recommendations to the commissions for further amendments. Commissions are free to reject this advice or make whatever changes they feel justified.(1) The new boundaries come into force one year from the completion of the process. The process that began with the completion of the 1991 census eventually proceeded through each of these stages, but it did so with considerable disruption and only because of the failure to amend the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act. Besides establishing the process and institutional form of redistribution, the EBRA provides general instructions about how the electoral map should be drawn. What stands out about the Canadian legislation is the degree to which the population of districts can deviate from strict equality compared with the United States and Australia (Courtney 1988). Districts can vary up to plus or minus 25 percent from the provincial quotient (population / number of seats) and can go beyond this if the commission feels there are exceptional circumstances. Commissions can depart from voter equality to accommodate community of interest and geographical considerations. In Canada, wide discrepancies in district size and, consequently, voting strength occur both inter- and intraprovincially. Despite the entrenched commitment to proportional by province, interprovincial divergence from equality has been a continuous aspect of Canadian constitutional practice (Roach 1991). One explanation for the practice of interprovincial inequality is related to the failure of the Senate to ensure effective and democratic regional representation (Roach 1991, 11). …