Provincial economic growth, inter-provincial and coastal-inland income equality in China from 1991 to 1999
Provincial economic growth, inter-provincial and coastal-inland income equality in China from 1991 to 1999
This thesis investigates provincial economic growth patterns in China, focusing on the 1990s. During this period the most distinctive characteristic is the inter-provincial and the inter-regional income inequality.
Chapter 1 introduces the goals of the thesis and reviews some fundamental literature. The problems addressed in this thesis include the income distribution, the coastal-inland development gap, and the development of ownership structure; all three are linked with each other.
It has been noted that the linked problems affecting China’s economic development are induced by many entangled factors; in particular, economic policy. Hence, Chapter 2 provides an overview of institutional change during the 1990s and its impact on the provincial economic growth pattern in China. The quantification of preferential policies and degrees of openness at provincial level is also given, together with a discussion of institutional rigidity and restrictions on factor mobility.
Before proceeding to the theoretical and empirical investigation of provincial economic growth patterns in China, we describe our data set and the empirical method in Chapter 3. The data is from the China Statistical Yearbook for various years. After explaining how to deflate the GDP data using GDP indices, we show that the GMM estimator is the most consistent and efficient estimator in a dynamic panel data model.
Therefore, using provincial data in China during the 1990s, Chapter 4 investigates provincial economic growth patterns and inter-provincial income inequalities. We find that a province takes around 8 years to halve the deviation from its balanced growth path. Based on the Solow growth model, GMM estimation results imply that physical capital investment contributes positively to economic growth. However, the existence of conditional convergence cannot be used to predict whether poor provinces can catch up with rich provinces. We apply sigma and beta absolute convergence analysis and find no evidence of catching up between the initially poor provinces and the initially rich provinces.
In Chapter Five, we focus on the enlarging coastal-inland income gap. It is found that, by using the distance by railway of each province’s capital city to its nearest port city as a proxy for transportation costs, there are significant differences across provinces.
University of Southampton
Wang, Zheng
3c6f18bb-fc19-48ae-ae40-3cec2c2054df
2003
Wang, Zheng
3c6f18bb-fc19-48ae-ae40-3cec2c2054df
Wang, Zheng
(2003)
Provincial economic growth, inter-provincial and coastal-inland income equality in China from 1991 to 1999.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
This thesis investigates provincial economic growth patterns in China, focusing on the 1990s. During this period the most distinctive characteristic is the inter-provincial and the inter-regional income inequality.
Chapter 1 introduces the goals of the thesis and reviews some fundamental literature. The problems addressed in this thesis include the income distribution, the coastal-inland development gap, and the development of ownership structure; all three are linked with each other.
It has been noted that the linked problems affecting China’s economic development are induced by many entangled factors; in particular, economic policy. Hence, Chapter 2 provides an overview of institutional change during the 1990s and its impact on the provincial economic growth pattern in China. The quantification of preferential policies and degrees of openness at provincial level is also given, together with a discussion of institutional rigidity and restrictions on factor mobility.
Before proceeding to the theoretical and empirical investigation of provincial economic growth patterns in China, we describe our data set and the empirical method in Chapter 3. The data is from the China Statistical Yearbook for various years. After explaining how to deflate the GDP data using GDP indices, we show that the GMM estimator is the most consistent and efficient estimator in a dynamic panel data model.
Therefore, using provincial data in China during the 1990s, Chapter 4 investigates provincial economic growth patterns and inter-provincial income inequalities. We find that a province takes around 8 years to halve the deviation from its balanced growth path. Based on the Solow growth model, GMM estimation results imply that physical capital investment contributes positively to economic growth. However, the existence of conditional convergence cannot be used to predict whether poor provinces can catch up with rich provinces. We apply sigma and beta absolute convergence analysis and find no evidence of catching up between the initially poor provinces and the initially rich provinces.
In Chapter Five, we focus on the enlarging coastal-inland income gap. It is found that, by using the distance by railway of each province’s capital city to its nearest port city as a proxy for transportation costs, there are significant differences across provinces.
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Published date: 2003
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Local EPrints ID: 465075
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/465075
PURE UUID: 06290f94-2046-4884-8580-28ee655f38d1
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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 00:21
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 19:56
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Author:
Zheng Wang
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