Chinese Regional Economic Inequalities Based on the Two-Stage Nested Theil Decomposition Method

Expand
  • 1. School of Geographical Science, Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu 226007;
    2. Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, PRC, Deptment of Geography, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062

Received date: 2003-11-24

  Revised date: 2004-12-08

  Online published: 2005-07-20

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to apply an inequality composition method, the two-stage nested Theil decomposition method, which is an extension of the ordinary one-stage Theil decomposition method, to an empirical examination of the Chinese regional disparities. One of the innovation of this paper, compared to those previous studies on the same topic, is its multi-scale approach. First of all, the regional inequalities is measured quantitatively in China from 1978 to 2001 by Theil indices based on province-level mean income. Secondly, based on a hierarchical structure of three-level measurement, region-province-prefecture, the paper decomposes overall regional inequality into three components: between-region, between-province, and within-province inequality components. The method uses a prefecture as the underlying regional unit to measure quantitatively overall regional income inequality, rather than a province that is chosen often by the most researchers, and thus can analyze the contribution of within-province inequalities as well as between-province and between-region inequalities to the overall regional income inequalities in a coherent framework. Thus, this paper applies the two-stage nested Theil decomposition method to prefecture-level income and population data in China in 1995,1997,1999 and 2001, and explores the spatial structure of within-provinces inequalities. In the end, to further analyze the results, the three inequality components in 2001 are analyzed in depth separately.Some interesting findings revealed in this study worth further discussion. The most important contribution of recent Chinese regional disparities has been identified with the Theil sub-index of intra-provincial inequalities, which is far more significant than the inter-province and inter-region inequalities components, thus has been recognized as the first and foremost important contributor of recent Chinese regional disparities.

Cite this article

LU Feng, XU Jian-Hua . Chinese Regional Economic Inequalities Based on the Two-Stage Nested Theil Decomposition Method[J]. SCIENTIA GEOGRAPHICA SINICA, 2005 , 25(4) : 401 -407 . DOI: 10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2005.04.401

References

[1] 杨开忠. 中国区域经济差异变动研究[J].经济研究,1994,(12):28~33.
[2] 胡鞍钢,王绍光,康晓光.中国地区差异报告[M].沈阳:辽宁人民出版社.
[3] 林毅夫,李周.中国经济转型时期的地区差距分析[J].经济研究,1998,(6):3~10.
[4] 吴殿廷.中国三大地带经济增长差异的系统分析[J].地域研究与开发,2001,20(2):10~15.
[5] 覃成林.中国区域经济差异研究[M].北京:中国经济出版社,1997.
[6] 魏后凯.当前区域经济研究的理论前沿[J].开发研究,1998,(6):34~38.
[7] 宋德勇. 改革以来中国经济发展的地区差异状况[J].数量经济技术经济研究,1998,(3):15~18.
[8] 赵建新.论区域经济差距的衡量指标与测度方法[J].经济地理,1998,18(3):63~67.
[9] Tsui K Y. Decomposition of China's Regional Inequality[J]. Journal of Comparative Economics, 1993, 17(3):600-627.
[10] Tianlun Jian, Jeffrey D Sachs, Andrew M. Warner,Trends in regional inequality in China[J]. China Economic Review, 1996,7(1):1-21.
[11] Masahisa Fujita, Dapeng Hu. Regional disparity in china 1985-1994:the effects of globalization and economic liberalization[J]. The annals of regional science. 2001,(35):3-37.
[12] 周玉翠,齐清文,冯灿飞.近10年中国省际经济差异动态变化特征[J].地理研究,2002,21(6):781~790.
[13] 徐建华,岳文泽.中国西部地区迟发展效应与后发优势及创新对策研究[M].北京:海洋出版社,2002.
[14] 陈国阶.我国东中西部发展差异原因分析[J].地理科学,1997,17(1):1~6.
[15] 魏后凯,刘楷. 我国东西差异扩大的原因分析[J].学术交流,1997,(2):14~18.
[16] 宋学明.中国区域经济发展及其收敛性[J]. 经济研究,1996,(9):38~44.
[17] 袁钢明.地区经济差异与宏观经济波动[J]. 经济研究,1996,(10):49~56.
[18] 蔡昉,都阳.中国地区经济增长的趋同与差异——对西部开发战略的启示[J].经济研究,2000,(10):30~37.
[19] 刘强.中国经济增长的收敛性分析[J].经济研究,2001,(6):70~77.
[20] 沈坤荣,马俊.中国经济增长的"俱乐部收敛"特征及其成因研究[J].经济研究,2002,(1):33~39.
[21] 樊杰.近期我国省域经济增长的基本态势分析[J].地理科学进展,1997,16(3): 9~15.
[22] 王小鲁,樊纲.中国地区差距的变动趋势和影响因素[J]. 经济研究,2004,(1):33~44.
[23] 周民良.对中国区域差距与区域发展若干重大问题的讨论[J].开发研究,1998,(4):3~8.
[24] 李小建,乔家君. 20世纪90年代中国县际经济差异的空间分析[J]. 地理学报,2001,56(2):136~145.
[25] Takahiro Akita. Decomposing regional income inequality in China and Indonesia using two-stage nested Theil decomposition method[J]. Ann Reg Sci,2003, 37(1):55-77.
[26] 郭腾云,陆大道,甘国辉.近20年来我国区域发展政策及其效果的对比研究[J].地理研究, 2002,21(4):504~510.
Outlines

/