CHNIEQ · Wealth Acumination and Inequality in China and its Neighboring Emerging Countries: Trends, Drivers and Policy Implications
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-09-01 → 2020-08-31
- EU contribution
- €173,076
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Wealth Acumination and Inequality in China and its Neighboring Emerging Countries: Trends, Drivers and Policy Implications
In my project, I have conducted several studies over the topic of inequality in Asian economies. The overall objective of my research is to systemcally measure and analysis the income inequality evolution of Asia as a region and in each Asian economy? Meanwhile in order to provide insight on the nature of rising inequality in Asian economy, I narrowed down my scope to China and Malaysia. For China, I have addressed two questions: a. What is the evolution of the wealth-income ratio, private shares of property, and inequality in China at both the national and provincial level during China’s economic transition period; b. What are the changes in the composition and characteristics of the Chinese economic elites (top 5% of urban population) since the years of early reforms (1980s). For Malaysia, I studied the trend of income inequality, not only at the national level (for the period of 1984-2014) but also by ethnic group (for the period of 2002-2014). My research contributed to better monitor the inequality trends in Asia, as well as provided insights on understanding the inequality drivers in China and Malaysia for the last 40 years. By doing so, I provided police recommendation for police makers in Asia to mitigate inequality and encouraged debates among the general public on the topic of inequality. From the global lens, the high growth rate sustained in Asia, especially in China after the eighties allowed for a massive global reduction in poverty rate. However, rising inequality has become a major concern in the region as economies sustain high levels of economic inequality. Meanwhile, due to lack of consistent data, it is almost impossible to compare inequality evolution among countries and estimate inequality in the region systemically. The overall objective of our research aims at solving this obstacle by constructing harmonized Distributional National Account for each Asian economies (consisting of 32 economies, host 4.3 billion population), based on national account, income survey, fiscal data. So that we could understanding how economic growth and resources are distributed in China as well as in other Asian economies, which is a monumentally important task in order to examine global inequality dynamics.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
In the last four decades, China, has experienced exceptional economic growth; its share of global GDP has increased from less than 4% in 1978 to about 20% in 2015. This record growth has moved China from a relatively poor, underdeveloped country to the world’s leading emerging economy. However, due to the lack of national balance sheet data and individual income tax records, relatively little is known about the evolution of income and wealth distribution within China. We know little about how much different sectors or income classes have benefited from China’s growth, as well as the mechanisms driving the inequality trend.Combining national accounts, survey, wealth and fiscal data, this proposed research project aims to address this gaps in literature by: i) providing consistent series on the accumulation and distribution of income and wealth in China in both national and provincial level over the period of 1978-2015, and ii) investigate the potential mechanisms driving the inequality trend. In particular, I will carefully examine three important yet understudied channels which drive the inequality trends in China and its neighboring emerging countries since 1978, namely; privatization, the rising capital share in total income, and the openness of economies to trade and foreign direct investment. This research project follows the literature concerning the long-run evolution of the distribution of income and wealth. In order to be able to compare findings for China with existing inequality studies for other countries, I will build a harmonized framework following the Distributional National Accounts (DINA) guidelines for analyzing aggregated national wealth and inequality. Through four related studies, this proposed project will provide insights into a fundamental question - how can economic growth and inequality be reconciled? The answer for this question could then be used as a reference for any country searching for a better economic development model.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- ECOLE D'ECONOMIE DE PARIS · ParisCoordinatorFrance
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union