Is China’s Urban-Rural Income Gap Still Relevant?
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
- Venue
- SOAS Main Building
- Room
- RB01
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
In the past, China’s household registration (hukou) system and related policies disadvantaged the rural population, widened the urban-rural income gap, and drove up overall income inequality.
Since 2010, China has pursued policy reforms that aim to transform the country into a predominately urban society and eliminate distinctions between the urban and rural populations. In the wake of these reforms, is China’s urban-rural income gap still relevant?
Professor Sicular discusses why, in the context of rapid urbanisation such as China’s, standard approaches to measuring the urban-rural income gap have become less relevant. She proposes an alternative approach that defines the income gap based on urban versus rural place of origin, rather than on urban versus rural location of current residence. New estimates for 2002 through 2023 reveal a substantial narrowing of the urban-rural income gap, and by 2023 the gap was no longer an important contributor to national inequality.
Registration
This event is open to the public and free to attend, however registration is required. This seminar is taking place on campus and will not be recorded or live-streamed.
Organiser
This event has been organised by the SOAS China Institute.
About the speaker
Terry Sicular is Professor Emerita of Economics at Western University (Canada), Professorial Research Associate at SOAS University of London, and Fellow of East Asian Studies | Sinology at the University of Vienna (Austria). She is a specialist on China’s economy and her recent work focuses on income distribution and poverty. She is a two-time recipient of the Sun Yefang Prize in Economic Science. Her latest publications include 'China’s Prosperous Middle Class and Consumption-led Economic Growth: Lessons from Household Survey Data' in The China Quarterly. She is an alumna of Pomona College and received her doctorate in economics from Yale University.
Chair
This event will be chaired by Professor Steve Tsang (Director, SOAS China Institute).
Contact
Email: sci@soas.ac.uk
Image credit: Leon Li on Unsplash
