Urban Income Gap Research Articles

The Urban-rural Income Gap, Urbanization, the Upgrading of Industrial Structure, and Agricultural Labor Productivity

Agricultural labor productivity reflects the relationship between labor factor input and economy in the agricultural industry, and improving agricultural labor productivity is an important way to achieve agricultural modernization and high-quality agricultural development. Based on the VAR model and Granger causality test, this paper conducts an empirical analysis of the impact of urban-rural income gap, urbanization, industrial structure upgrading, and agricultural labor productivity in China from 1981 to 2020, and concludes that there is a long-term cointegration relationship between urban and rural income gap, urbanization and industrial structure upgrading and agricultural labor productivity. In the long run, the urban-rural income gap and industrial structure upgrading have a positive impact on agricultural labor productivity. Urbanization has a negative impact on the improvement of agricultural labor productivity, so relevant suggestions are given.

Can Agricultural Industry Integration Reduce the Rural–Urban Income Gap? Evidence from County-Level Data in China

The improvement in urban production efficiency has led to income distribution being skewed towards urban labor, thereby widening the urban–rural income gap. However, integration of the agricultural industry at the county level can accelerate the flow of production factors between industries. Therefore, this study evaluates the degree of agricultural industry integration at the county level using the entropy weight method and explores its impact on the urban–rural income gap, based on sample data from 1122 counties in China spanning from 2014 to 2021. The research findings reveal the following: (1) The fixed model demonstrates that enhancing agricultural industry integration can significantly narrow the urban–rural income gap; (2) The mediating model indicates that this narrowing effect can be achieved by improving the green total factor productivity of agriculture; (3) Regional heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impact of agricultural industry integration is more pronounced in the central region and main crop production areas; (4) The results of the spatial Durbin model demonstrate that agricultural industry integration also exhibits a significant positive spatial spillover effect on neighboring areas. The outcomes of this study contribute to enriching the research on agricultural industry integration for green and low-carbon agricultural development, further promoting the development of county-level agricultural industry integration, and providing valuable insights for other similar countries.

The impact of the digital economy on the urban-rural income gap: Research based on the rationalization of the industrial

The booming digital economy will affect the income gap between urban and rural areas in China. Based on the provincial data from 2011 to 2021, this paper selects a fixed-effect model to empirically test the impact of digital economy on the urban and rural income gap in China and the adjustment effect of the rationalization of industrial structure. The research shows that digital economy can significantly improve the urban-rural income gap, while the rationalization of industrial structure will expand the gap and reduce the effect of digital economy on the urban-rural income gap; Regional heterogeneity test shows that the effect of digital economy on the urban-rural income gap, and the marginal effect of digital economy on the urban-rural income gap is less than that in the central and western regions. Therefore, the government should vigorously develop the rural digital economy, pay attention to the training and introduction of rural digital technology talents, and implement the differentiated digital economy development strategy according to local conditions, so as to better realize the role of digital economy in improving the urban and rural income gap in China.

Information and communication technology diffusion and the urban–rural income gap in China

AbstractThe income gap between urban and rural households is a prevalent social issue in many countries, including China. This study examines the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion on the urban–rural income gap in China. We theoretically analyse how ICT infrastructure construction, financed by fiscal transfers, in rural areas narrows the rural–urban income gap. Further, our empirical results show that both ICT penetration at county level and ICT usage at household level narrow the rural–urban income gap. Moreover, compared to computer access, the newer generation of ICT devices (smartphones) has stronger effects in narrowing the rural–urban income gap. We find that smartphones play a key role in the reduction of this income gap by increasing the agricultural product operational income of rural households.

Development of Platform Economy and Urban–Rural Income Gap: Theoretical Deductions and Empirical Analyses

Against the historical background of the burgeoning platform economy and the promotion of common prosperity, this paper focuses on the impact of the development of the platform economy on the urban–rural income gap. Theoretical mechanism analyses are conducted from three aspects such as nonlinear action of the platform economy on the urban–rural income gap, the rural human capital level-based moderating effect, and the spatial spillover effect. Moreover, empirical analyses are carried out using the threshold model, interaction model, and spatial lag model in turn with panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2013 to 2020. The results of the study show that there is a significant double threshold effect of the development of the platform economy on the urban–rural income gap. The initial development of the platform economy can improve urban–rural income inequality, and the scale effect of the platform will further contribute to the reduction in the urban–rural income gap, but the expansion of market share and the deepening of monopoly will have a suppressive effect on the urban–rural equilibrium. There is a moderating effect of rural human capital in the platform economy in reducing urban–rural income inequality. The increase in the level of rural human capital will enhance the driving effect of the platform economy on the reduction in the rural–urban income gap. There are spatial spillover effects for the impacts of the platform economy on the urban–rural income gap and it positively promotes the coordinated development of urban and rural areas in neighboring provinces. Based on the above results, this paper makes policy proposals from three aspects such as perfecting the system and standard of the platform, improving the rural human capital level, and optimizing platform-based regional cooperation.

Analysis of the Spatio-Temporal Evolution, Influencing Factors, and Spillover Effects of the Urban–Rural Income Gap in Chongqing Municipality, China

In addition to being necessary for the stability, coordination, and sustainable growth of the national economy, narrowing the urban–rural income gap is also an “Important national matter” for the long-term security of the nation. “Big mountain areas, big cities, big reservoir areas, big rural areas, and ethnic areas” are all present in the municipality of Chongqing. All of the poverty-stricken counties have been lifted out of poverty, despite the promotion of targeted poverty alleviation and other policies, significant urban–rural income gaps remain. In view of the current research, there has been no in-depth discussion on the correlation between urban and rural income gap and poverty levels in various regions, and there has been no in-depth discussion on the spatial correlation and spillover effects of various influencing factors. This paper employs panel data from 2010 to 2021 for 37 counties in Chongqing; based on an analysis of the characteristics of the urban–rural income gap’s spatial pattern and spatio-temporal evolution, it classifies each county (city and district) as either a non-poverty or poverty-stricken county and uses spatial econometric models to conduct an in-depth study of the influencing factors and spillover effects of the urban–rural income gap in Chongqing. The outcomes of our analysis of the influencing factors reveal that the level of fixed assets investment, the per capita spending of public funds, the proportion of rural employees, the proportion of grain sowing, the amount of agricultural fertilizer applied per unit area, the proportion of real estate development investment, and population density variables are important causes of the URIG in Chongqing. The spillover effects of these factors vary between poverty-stricken and non-poverty-stricken counties. This paper aims to provide reference to policymakers to design measures to narrow the urban–rural income gap and advance the urban–rural coordinated development strategy on the basis of a thorough examination of the spatial and temporal evolution, influencing variables, and spillover effects of the urban–rural income gap in Chongqing.

Economic Connectiveness and Pro-Poor Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Agriculture

In Sub-Saharan Africa, economic growth is essential for poverty reduction, and pro-poor growth is the renewed focus of today’s political debate. The present paper adds to the literature on the growth–inequality relationship. It provides an in-depth analysis of the potential role of agriculture in promoting pro-poor growth in rural and urban areas compared with that of other activities. This aspect still lacks rigorous empirical support. Using the Nexus project SAMs by the International Food Policy Research Institute, this study identifies the level of ‘keyness’ of 36 activities (12 are agricultural) in nine Eastern, Western, and Central African countries using the inter-industry linkages analysis. Afterwards, it investigates the income distribution multipliers effects of activities growth across households classified in quantiles in rural and urban areas. Therefore, the paper adds to the literature, mainly focused on rural poverty and information on the growth effect on urban poverty, which is important in the context of rapid urbanization and the growing number of poor people in African cities. Apart from country-specific factors, the results confirm the strong integration of agriculture with the economy. The growth of key agricultural activities presents the most pronounced multiplicative effect on the income of rural households in the lowest quantiles. Poor urban households also benefit from their growth, but not to the same extent as rural households with an increase in the rural–urban income gap.

Addressing Rural–Urban Income Gap in China through Farmers’ Education and Agricultural Productivity Growth via Mediation and Interaction Effects

Narrowing the rural–urban income gap is an important challenge in achieving sustained and stable economic and social development in China. The present study investigates the role of farmers’ education and agricultural productivity growth in influencing the rural–urban income gap by applying mediation, interaction, and quantile regression models to provincial panel data of China from 2003 to 2017. Results show that, first of all, China’s agricultural productivity (TFP) continues to improve, and it is mainly driven by technical change (TC), with no significant role of technical efficiency change (TEC) or stable scale change (SC). Improving farmers’ education not only directly narrows the rural–urban income gap but also indirectly improves agricultural productivity to further narrow the rural–urban income gap. Due to differences in income sources of farmers, the corresponding impacts of farmers’ education and agricultural productivity growth on the rural–urban income gap also differ. Policy recommendations include continued investments in farmers’ education and training as well as modernization of agricultural for higher productivity growth.

The Influence of the Urban-Rural Income Disparity on the Industrial Structure—Taking the Yangtze River Delta Region as an Example

In this paper, the effect of the mediation effect is mainly used to test and analyze the regression model, and most scholars have studied the impact of the modernization of the industrial structure on the income gap. However, this paper is from another perspective, based on the social background of high-quality development, the main study is the impact mechanism of urban and rural income gap on the industrial structure, taking the Yangtze River Delta as the main research object, and specifically selecting 22 central cities in the Yangtze River Delta region, which is also one of the highlights of this study. The regression model is constructed by using the intermediary effect, and the four intermediary variables of fiscal expenditure (M1), fixed asset investment (M2), number of patent applications (M3), and total import and export (M4) are selected, which represent the role of the government, fixed asset investment, scientific and technological level and opening-up level, and study and analyze the inherent influence mechanism between each variable. Before doing specific research, I consulted the papers and literature of many other outstanding scholars, among which Cheng Yuhong and Cheng Chi’s “The Influence Mechanism of industrial structure of urban and rural income gap” [1] has great reference value for this paper. According to the research results, under the background of high-quality development in the Yangtze River Delta region, the expansion of the income gap between urban and rural areas will inhibit the upgrading of the industrial structure, so it is necessary to focus on building a new type of urbanization, accelerating the construction of an urban innovation system, optimizing the rural employment structure to narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas, and providing impetus for the continuous upgrading of the industrial structure.

Urbanization forces driving rural urban income disparity: Evidence from metropolitan areas in China

The rural urban income gap in China ranks as one of the largest in the world. This imbalanced rural urban relationship and the associated socioeconomic disparity have caused a weak and inefficient resource allocation, harmed the country's long-term economic development, and led to scores of socioeconomic problems. Concurrent with the widening rural urban income gap, China has been transformed by rapid urbanization. However, to date, there is limited understanding of the links between urbanization forces and this rural urban income disparity. This study uses the dynamic panel data model to investigate the influence of both economic and institutional urbanization forces and other socioeconomic factors on China's rural urban income disparity. Our results show that two economic urbanization factors—rural productivity and urban productivity—have contrasting effects on this income disparity. While rural productivity can significantly narrow the rural urban income disparity, urban productivity can positively contribute to widening the rural urban income disparity. We also find that the hukou openness policy negatively affects the rural urban income disparity with a one-year lag. Finally, consistent with the Kuznets theory, per capita GDP and urban population size both negatively correlate with the rural urban income disparity. Our findings provide insights into why rapid urbanization and the widening of the rural urban income gap coexist in China. Moreover, our results provide clear policy implications on how to mitigate the disparity. The most compelling suggestion is that sustainable agricultural productivity improvement is critical to achieving the goal of mitigating the income gap between rural and urban areas.

Rural - urban income gap and labour market in Romania

Rural – urban income gap is an important social-economic development indicator for a society. A large rural - urban income gap within a society reveals a split of it into two distinct societies, one extremely poor compared to the other. In Romania, almost half of the resident population lives in rural areas (46.02% in 2019), while the urban-rural migration flow is higher than the traditional reverse flow since 1997. However, the country is characterized by regional economic disparities, Bucharest-Ilfov region being the most economically developed. Labour market in rural areas is underdeveloped, rural population being highly depended on subsistence agriculture. Furthermore, rural areas have a low level of income and living standards. In this paper, we analysis the rural-urban labour market dynamics and rural-urban income gap using a LMDI (logarithmic mean Divisia index) decomposition for 2005-2019 period. Factors such as income gap effect and structural rural income effect are considered. Results show that the total urban–rural income gap has decreased with 8.91%, while structural rural income effect contributed with an increase of only 0.63%, the income gap effect (of different employed population groups) being of -9.49%.

Urban and Rural Income Gap: Does Urban Spatial Form Matter in China?

This research uses satellite remote sensing data to measure the urban spatial form and analyzes the impact of changes to urban spatial structure on the income gap between urban and rural residents. The results indicate that the compactness of the urban spatial form is positively correlated with the income gap between urban and rural residents. However, there is no statistically significant relationship between the urban spatial extension rate and the urban–rural income gap. A subsequent analysis of the control variables shows that fiscal policy is positively correlated while urbanization is negatively correlated with the income gap between urban and rural residents. These conclusions provide the basis for formulating policies to narrow the urban–rural income gap. Appropriately reducing the spatial compactness of cities can narrow the income gap. In addition, changing excessive preferences for urban fiscal policy and increasing the level of urbanization can also promote a reduction in the income gap between urban and rural residents.

Sustainable Rural Development in Northern China: Caught in a Vice between Poverty, Urban Attractions, and Migration

For a long time, the majority of China, which has the world’s largest population, has been immobile and lived in rural areas. However, over recent decades, with the economic rise of China, rural labor has demonstrated a trend of moving to rapidly industrializing regions in search of higher income and better employment opportunities. Along with the labor cutback, out-migration introduces negatives to the sustainable development of rural areas, i.e., depopulation, the abandonment of rural settlements and agricultural lands, and the aging of the population, among others. Due to the threats of labor outflow to sustainability, studying the causes of China’s rural out-migration can reveal lessons on how state policies can be designed to reduce the negative impacts of out-migration on rural communities. The purpose of this paper is to identify the major causes of migration movements among the rural areas of northern China that are considered to be the best-performing among the provinces of the country in terms of rural development, agricultural production, and the wealth of rural dwellers. A two-stage survey of a panel of experts involved: (1) respondents representing government officials and universities of the Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and (2) regional and district levels of administration, and research and public establishments of Heilongjiang Province. In stage three, drawing on the authors’ own survey of 128 rural households in three counties of Heilongjiang Province, the major migration drivers have been identified, and the portfolio of a typical rural migrant has been developed. Some of the key findings are that migration intentions are fueled by the rural–urban income gap, poverty, a reduction of demand for labor in rural areas, underdeveloped infrastructure, the low quality of social services in rural settlements, and the low social standing of rural dwellers. The approach allows monitoring the dynamics of migration attitudes as responses to the policy interventions that are aimed at the sustainable development of rural areas.

An Empirical Test on Effect of Intra-Product Trade on Regional Income Distribution: The Case of Liaoning, China

This paper examines the relationship between intra-product trade and regional income distribution by empirical tests of co-integration and Granger causality with time series data from 1994 to 2013. The conclusion shows that intra-product trade and regional income distribution have a long-term equilibrium relationship. The exports of intra-product trade can significantly reduce the income gap between urban and rural residents, while the imports have a negative influence. At the meantime, the intra-product exports and imports are the one-way causal of income distribution. In addition, the capital contribution can enlarge the urban and rural income gap significantly. Education also has a negative influence, but it is non-significant.

Empirical Study on Intra-Industry Trade and Domestic Income Gap

A large number of empirical studies show that, trade will have an impact on the domestic income gap. In turn, the gap will affect the intra industry trade? This is a problem worth thinking and research.The optimization of the trade structure has important practical significance on promotion of foreign trade competitiveness in china. In view of our city typical characteristics of rural economic structure, and since twentieth Century 90 years, expanding speed of urban income gap degree has been more than rural areas, coupled with the proportion of the increasing urban population, the importance of the income gap between urban internal, become the structural factors of widening the income gap, this paper focuses on effects of urban income gap on intra industry trade. This article empirically tests the impact of Chinese urban income gap on the industrial finished product intra-industry trade level base on Johansen Co-integration Test, finding that the urban income gap improves the industrial finished product intra-industry trade level in the long term.

Mobility and Agency: Private Sector Development in Rural Central China

Economic inequality is a continuing challenge for China. According to a recent World Bank report, China’s Gini Coefficient rose to .47 in 2009, from .28 thirty years ago, indicating rising income inequalities. The rising rural–urban income gap is particularly challenging, as incomes of urban residents are now 3.3 times greater than rural incomes. In response to this, the goal of “inclusive growth” (growth which benefits all economic strata and regions) has become central to the design of China’s 12th Five-Year Plan (FYP), in line with the commitment of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao to achieving a “harmonious society” in China. To counter rising income inequality between urban and rural China and between coastal regions and the interior, Beijing has poured more than one trillion yuan into infrastructure and social welfare improvements, and has distributed these funds as part of its Western Development Program (since 1999), the Northeast Rejuvenation Initiative (after 2003) and the Central China Developmental Program (after 2005), along with a host of other developmental aid programs. While such government-led efforts may provide some benefit to remote regions, the state’s ability to support the generation of private income is of paramount importance. Since 1998, when China privatized the majority of local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) (difang guoying qiye 地方国营企业), the private sector has played an ever more important role in employment, innovation and income generation. Yet, while a number of national policies and laws have improved the business environment for private enterprise over the past 30 years, there continue to be

Inter‐industry Inequality: An Important Source of the Urban Income Gap—Regression‐based Decomposition

基于回归方程的收入差距分解发现，1988年、1995年和2002年，行业间收入不平等对中国城镇居民收入差距的贡献越来越大，而且这主要是由一些收入迅速提高的垄断行业造成的。同时，区位、教育、所有制和职业类型以及是否有第二职业对收入差距的贡献也在提高，是否完全就业和年龄对收入差距的贡献明显下降。因此，缩小中国城镇收入差距，亟需打破劳动力市场进入壁垒和产品市场行业垄断。此外，减轻地区间的劳动力流动障碍、普遍提高劳动者的受教育水平等措施也将是未来政府缩小城镇收入差距的重要政策着力点。 关键词: 行业垄断 收入差距分解 夏普里值 Regression‐based decomposition of inter‐industry earnings differentials shows that in 1988, 1995 and 2002, inter‐industry earnings differentials made an increasing contribution to urban earnings inequality in China. The primary reason for the widening gap lay in monopoly industries. At the same time, geographical location, educational level, type of enterprise ownership, type of occupation and whether the individual had a second job also contributed to rising earnings inequality, while age and being fully employed made a decreasing contribution. Therefore, if China is to reduce the earnings gap it is imperative that we remove barriers to labor market entry and break down some monopoly industries in the product market. Additionally, reducing obstacles to the free movement of labor and improving workers' educational level should also be important elements of the government's strategy for reducing the urban income gap in future.

Egypt’s rural–urban income disparity: is the gap diverging?

Although some studies have attempted to assess the rural–urban income gap in the 1960s and 1970s, no study has focused on the evolution of the gap over the past 25 years, let alone the evolution in the real differences in per capita income between the rural sector and the urban one. The objective of this study is to fill the gap in the literature on this topic and to appraise the development in the gap – in nominal and real terms – both on the aggregate per capita rural and urban income levels and in different expenditure size classes from 1981 till 2005, a period which witnessed a revolution in the agricultural policies from intensive government intervention to complete liberalization. The results of the study prove that the gap diverged again from 1994 to 2005 after converging from 1981 to 1994. The study also proves that the gap is more apparent in the middle classes rather than the lower ones. Finally, with respect to food consumption the study concluded that a slight gap may exist in favour of rural – and not urban – Egypt.

Towns Against a Background of Cities: Recent Evolution of Town Urbanization Policy in the People's Republic of China

Continuing a long tradition of promoting town development, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) intends to grow towns further to achieve the twin goals of sustaining economic growth and narrowing the rural–urban income gap. Under the Asian Development Bank-financed ‘Town-Based Urbanization Strategy Study,’ Planning and Development Collaborative International, Inc. and the China Center for Town Reform and Development explored, on behalf of the PRC, different ways to promote the growth of towns. Case studies in Liaoning and Shanxi provinces showed that towns grow best when they are physically and economically linked to nearby cities; when they benefit from strong local leadership that articulates a clear vision for future development; and when they have been priority targets of government-channelled private sector investment. To enable the development of towns, it was proposed that PRC should: (1) grow towns by facilitating the development of larger urban agglomerations made up of different types of urban settlements; (2) focus efforts on towns with high potential for employment generation and economic growth; and (3) grant greater authority to towns for development planning, budgeting, revenue generation, and infrastructure investment.

Rural urban income gap and critical point of institutional change

By employing an analytical framework based on institutional economics, this paper intends to investigate the rural urban income gap and its critical points for change. The level of rural urban income gap in 1978 broke the institutional equilibrium on which the traditional rural urban relationship relied, leading to overall reform in rural China. In the post-reform period, utilizing their superior influence on policy-making, urban residents have so far succeeded in maintaining urban biased government policies, deterring rural labor from migrating to cities permanently. The urban residents’ major lobbying mechanism is through their “vote” and “voice”, something in which their rural counterparts are lacking. However, farmers have a way to “get around” the urban biased policies which are unfavorable to them. This “voting with their feet” eventually will drive the policy change. When the rural urban income gap increases to the level of 1978, a critical point for institutional change will have been reached. The timing and conditions will be ripe for reform of the whole policy package on which the present rural urban divide has been built.