migrating peasants, and, consequently, has a positive effect on narrowing the rural-urban income or consumption gap. Urban labor …

, enabling a detailed analysis of changes in wealth distribution among Chinese households. Our analysis indicates that the wealth … apartments were sold to urban households at extremely low prices, has accelerated the accumulation of wealth among urban … households on the one hand, and widened the wealth gap between urban and rural areas on the other. …

signficantly faster pace for older households, when compared with younger age groups. In contrast, we find t hat a higher … - relative to older borrowers has played a major role in easing the debt repayment burden in the presence of large income shocks …. Notwithstanding historically low interest rates, we show that income shocks are the main factor contributing to mortgage repayment …