Economic reform is often constrained because rank-and-file bureaucrats responsible for implementation have vested interests that oppose change. Drawing on an unusual longitudinal survey data set for a representative rural county in northern China, we show an alternative, positive scenario...

Using new household survey data for 1995 and 2002, we investigate the size of China's urban-rural income gap, the gap's contribution to overall inequality in China, and the factors underlying the gap. Our analysis improves on past estimates by using a fuller measure of income, adjusting for...

Defining the 'global middle class' as being neither poor nor rich in the developed world, we estimate the size of the global middle class in China and 33 other countries and analyze China's expanding middle class in international perspective. China's global middle class has grown rapidly and has...

This article examines interactions between markets and state commercial planning in the context of China's agricultural sector. It begins with a discussion of recent trends in agricultural planning and commerce in China and then presents a theoretical model that analyzes the way that a mixed...

Economic reforms in China have brought rapid growth in nonagricultural employment in rural areas and a substantial shift in the structure of rural employment. These changes have led researchers to question the conventional view of rural China as a labor surplus economy with poorly functioning...