Exports, FDI, Linkages and Regional Disparities in China

Pronounced disparities in income and economic opportunities between the coastal and the inland regions of China have often been noted. This paper explores the proposition that regional disparities in China are intimately linked with the structure of her exports and FDI, which results in limited linkages from the growth engines. The spillover and migration effects of exports and FDI on regional income inequalities are investigated. The emphasis on FDI-driven labor-intensive processing-type exports in the coastal regions is found to have attracted the relatively mobile and efficient resources from the inland regions, but have only offered limited growth linkages to them. All this has exacerbated the backwardness of the inland regions.