Knight, John2013-09-262013-09-262013-06https://hdl.handle.net/10986/15843This paper provides an overview of research on income inequality in China over the period of economic reform. It presents the results of two main sources of evidence on income inequality and, assisted by various decompositions, explains the reasons income inequality has increased rapidly and the Gini coefficient is now almost 0.5. This paper evaluates the degree of income inequality from the perspectives of people's subjective well-being and government concerns. It poses the following question: has income inequality peaked? It also discusses the policy implications of the analysis. The concluding comments of this paper propose a research agenda and suggest possible lessons from China's experience that may be useful for other developing countries.CC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE POVERTYABSOLUTE POVERTY LINEACCOUNTABILITYAGGREGATION BIASASSET INEQUALITYCAPITAL ACCUMULATIONCAPITAL GAINSCONDITIONAL CONVERGENCEDEPENDENT VARIABLEDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDIFFERENCES IN INCOMEDISPOSABLE INCOMEECONOMETRIC ANALYSISECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC EFFICIENCYECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC INEQUALITYECONOMIC REFORMECONOMIC REFORMSECONOMIC REVIEWECONOMIC THEORYEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESFACTOR INCOMEFARM INCOMESFARMERSFARMLANDFINANCIAL CRISISGDPGINI COEFFICIENTGROWTH RATEGROWTH RATESHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD INCOMESHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHOUSING SUBSIDIESHUMAN CAPITALINCOMEINCOME DIFFERENCESINCOME DISPARITIESINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME GAPINCOME GROUPSINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME LEVELINCOME LEVELSINCOME POVERTYINCOME TRANSFERSINCREASED INEQUALITYINCREASING INCOME INEQUALITYINEQUALITYINEQUALITY DECREASEINEQUALITY REDUCTIONINSURANCELABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLABOR SHORTAGELABOURLABOUR MARKETLAND OWNERSHIPMEAN INCOMEMEASURING INEQUALITYMIGRANT LABORMINIMUM INCOMEMINIMUM WAGESNEGATIVE COEFFICIENTNEGATIVE EFFECTPENSIONSPER CAPITA GROWTHPERSONAL INCOMEPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY MEASURESPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOORPOOR HOUSEHOLDSPOOR RURAL AREASPOPULATION DATAPOSITIVE COEFFICIENTPOSITIVE EFFECTPOVERTY LINEPOWER PARITYPROFIT SHARINGPROPERTY RIGHTSPUBLIC ECONOMICSPUBLIC POLICYPUBLIC TRANSFERSQUESTIONNAIRESRAPID GROWTHREAL INCOMEREDISTRIBUTIVE POLICYREGIONAL INEQUALITYREGIONAL LEVELREGRESSION ANALYSESRELATIVE CONCEPTRELATIVE DEMANDRELATIVE INCOMERELATIVE POVERTYRENTSRISING INCOME INEQUALITYRISING INEQUALITYRURALRURAL AREASRURAL DWELLERSRURAL HEALTHRURAL HOUSEHOLDRURAL HOUSEHOLD INCOMERURAL HOUSEHOLDSRURAL INCOMERURAL INFRASTRUCTURERURAL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTRURAL LABORRURAL POLICIESRURAL POVERTYRURAL RESIDENCESOCIAL CAPITALSOCIAL COHESIONSOCIAL DISORDERSOCIAL SECURITYTAXATIONTRADE LIBERALIZATIONUNEMPLOYEDUNEMPLOYMENTUNSKILLED LABORURBAN EMPLOYMENTURBAN WORKERSWAGE INEQUALITYWAGE STRUCTUREWAGESWELL-BEINGWELLBEINGWELL­BEINGsubjective well-beingsocial instabilityWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-6482