This paper examines the relationship between city size, migration, and urban income inequality using the 1% sample of the 2005 Census in the People's Republic of China (PRC). We calculate various measures of within-city income inequality for 252 PRC cities. It is found that city income...

Though Mandarin is China's common language, each region/city has its own dialect. Using a unique self-collected dataset, this paper estimates returns to dialect familiarity in China's largest and most developed city, Shanghai. We evaluate migrant workers' comprehension and fluency of the...

This paper provides a new explanation for China’s low consumption-to-GDP ratio by highlighting the constraints of the “household registration system” (Hukou) on China’s household consumption. Our baseline results show that the consumption of migrants is 16–20% lower than that of local...

The year 1996 was a turning point both in terms of Chinese labor market reform and in China's economic growth pattern. Before 1996, labor market reform was mainly implemented through adjustment of people's occupation and income structure. Since 1996, employment restructuring has led to...

China's recent accession to the WTO is expected to accelerate its integration into the world economy, which aggravates concerns over the impact of globalization on the already rising inter-region income inequality in China. This paper discusses China's globalization process and estimates an...