Abstract

The goal of this thesis, titled China's income distribution-policies and changes, is to try to analyze the economic institution and distribution policy changes in China and their connections and correlation with Chinese resident's incomes, based on the method of scale distribution analysis.

According to the findings of this research, though Chinese resident's income had entered a era of fast growth after reforms were launched, the income distribution gap has been also increasing. Following points are the main characters in this regard-the coexistence of income equalism in the planned system and growing income differences outside China's planned system, the convergence of financial assets in a few high income families, and obvious geological features including the income gap between cities and rural areas and among the eastern, the middle, and the western regions. This result is similar to Simon Kuznets view of increasing income distribution disparity at the early stage of economic development in his Inverted-U hypothese.

From the perspective of mainland China's distribution changes, resident's income disparities increased due to the growing income differences between labors according to their natures. After 1993, income system under the planned economy, the market determined income and the differences of incomes between capital input and labor input have become the main factors affecting the overall worsening situation of income disparity. The existence of hidden incomes in great amount also enlarged the psychological perception of income gaps. On the issue of regional income disparities, it is mostly a result of China's policy of pursuing faster growth in the eastern area at the expense of the interests of rural areas and peasants.

The increasing amount of disparities of income distribution on mainland can be viewed as a result of a correction of income equalism under the planed economy during the transitional period of China's economic and institutional transference. But the deep root of this problem lies in the structural contradictory of China's planned and market distribution mechanisms and institutional obstacles existed between cities and country areas and different regions. All these will restrain China's abilities to further develop its economy and post a threat on social stability.