China's impressive growth has been accompanied by increasing inequality and a widening rural–urban divide. This paper identifies and examines nine major dimensions of this divide: income,consumption, education, healthcare, employment, child care, pensions, access to public services and...

Using three comparable national representative household surveys for China in 1988, 1995 and 2002, this paper provides micro level evidence of a policy of absolute regressive taxation and an inverted welfare system. It reviews the economic effects of taxes and subsides and shows that a dual and...

Although dual economy models are widely recognized for their explanatory power and applications in development economics, their lack of micro-economic foundations and the associated loss of clarity has led to mainstream economists underplaying their importance. By providing a micro-economic...