This introductory chapter provides background to and summarizes key findings from the chapters in this book, all of which share in common their use of household data from the latest round of the China Household Income Project (CHIP) survey to analyze recent trends in inequality in China. We...

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the redistributive role of government social security transfers on inequality in China. We attempt to answer two questions. First, does inequality of after-transfer income narrow, compared to that of before-transfer income? Second, given the scale and...

This study examines the long-term changes in the distribution of rural income in China from the late 1980s until the mid-2010s. The major findings are summarized as follows. First, contrasting trends are found in the contributions of agricultural income and wage earnings, which reflect the...

In this chapter we examine trends in China's household incomes, income distribution and inequality for China as a whole and for each of the urban, rural and rural-urban migrant subgroups, as well as analyzing changes in the income gaps between the urban and rural sectors and among the...

The inequality of wealth in China has increased rapidly in recent years. Prior to 1978 all Chinese households possessed negligible wealth. China therefore presents a fascinating case study of how inequality of household wealth increases as economic reforms take place, marketization occurs, and...

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the structure of rural poverty in China. Based on data from the China Household Income Project (CHIP) in 1988, 1995, 2002, 2007, and 2013, we analyze: 1.) Anti-poverty trends and problems during the recent three decades. 2.) The structure of poverty...

We use CHIP data from 1995, 2002, and 2013 to investigate inequality in urban household consumption expenditures. Overall inequality in urban household consumption expenditures measured by the Gini coefficient decreased slightly from 0.33 in 1995 to 0.32 in 2002, but it increased to 0.36 in...

Using data from the China Household Income Project, this study analyzes the effects of minimum wage policy on wage distribution in urban China from 1993 to 2013. Several major conclusions emerge from this research. First, with respect to the effects of the minimum wage on wages for low-wage...