Development of Financial Intermediation and the Dynamics of Rural-Urban Inequality: China, 1978-98

housing, transportation, planning, coordination, reform, equity, justice, inequality, central banks, China

Land Use Rights, Market Transition, and Rural-urban Labor Migration in China (1980-84)

This paper provides a systematic analysis of the way shifts in property utilization rights in China induced another sequence of institutional changes that led to the rise of rural-urban labor migration from 1980 to 1984, a critical period in the country’s market transition. I show that the 1980s’ Household Responsibility System (HRS), which brought family farming back from the communal system, endowed rural households not only with land use rights, but also with de facto labor allocation rights. These shifts in property relationspromoted a growth in agricultural market size as well as the emergence of intraprovincial non-hukou rural-urban migration, which may have made labor retention policies such as the small township strategy ineffective, and may have given the government an incentive to deregulate its subsequent labor market policy

Land Use Rights, Market Transition, and Rural-urban Labor Migration in China (1980-84)

This paper provides a systematic analysis of the way shifts in property utilization rights in China induced another sequence of institutional changes that led to the rise of rural-urban labor migration from 1980 to 1984, a critical period in the country’s market transition. I show that the 1980s’ Household Responsibility System (HRS), which brought family farming back from the communal system, endowed rural households not only with land use rights, but also with de facto labor allocation rights. These shifts in property relationspromoted a growth in agricultural market size as well as the emergence of intraprovincial non-hukou rural-urban migration, which may have made labor retention policies such as the small township strategy ineffective, and may have given the government an incentive to deregulate its subsequent labor market policy

Fiscal Decentralization, Rural Industrialization, and Undocumented Labor Mobility in Rual China (1982-87)

This paper uses a unique panel dataset from China's initial reform of fiscal decentralization to analyze the relationships between fiscal decentralization, local economic development, and rural-rural undocumented inter-provincial labor mobility. Using a modified gravity model with Heckman Maximum Likelihood Estimation method, this paper shows that fiscal decentralization has two contending effects on labor market integration: Local economic development promotes labor mobility at the labor migration destination, but local public goods crowding restrains the inflow of labor. This paper also demonstrates that the crowding effect is stronger at lower levels of government

Regular and Agency Workers: Attitudes and Resistance in Chinese Auto Joint Ventures

This paper focuses on agency workers in China's auto industry. Some scholars foresee that this new category of workers, particularly in the auto industry, will play a leading role in global labour resistance. In this context, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 483 regular and agency workers at five major auto joint ventures in China and compared their work conditions, job satisfaction and willingness to take collective actions. Based on these findings, we argue that these companies have good reasons to keep the gap in wages and in work conditions small. This, along with management practices inherited from the Maoist system, can mitigate workers' dissatisfaction and reduce their tendency to take militant actions

Development of Financial Intermediation and the Dynamics of Urban-Rural Disparity in China, 1978-1998

Chen Y. P., Liu M. and Zhang Q. Development of financial intermediation and the dynamics of urban-rural disparity in China, 1978-1998, Regional Studies. This paper focuses on the impacts of financial intermediation development on the urban-rural income disparity (URID) in China. Using a twenty-year province-level panel data set from 1978 to 1998, it is found that the change of URID may be explained by fiscal policy during the early reform period (1978-1989) and financial intermediates during the later reform period (1990-1998). In addition, it is shown that the direction the Kuznets effect, an inverted 'U'-shaped relationship between per-capita gross domestic product and URID, is sensitive to changes in government development policies. This study adds to the spatial economic inequality literature by clarifying the effects of urban-biased financial intermediation policy on the underlying dynamics of convergent and divergent effects on urban-rural inequality. [image omitted] Chen Y. P., Liu M. et Zhang Q. Le developpement de l'intermediation financiere et la dynamique des ecarts des revenus urbano-ruraux en Chine entre 1978 et 1998, Regional Studies. Cet article porte sur l'impact du developpement de l'intermediation financiere sur l'URID (Urban-Rural Income Disparity - les ecarts des revenus urbano-ruraux) en Chine. A partir d'une enquete a echantillon constant aupres des provinces et conduite sur une periode de vingt annees, a savoir de 1978 jusqu'a 1998, il s'avere que le changement de l'URID pourrait s'expliquer par la politique fiscale menee pendant la premiere periode de reforme (entre 1978 et 1989) et par les intermediaires financiers pendant la derniere periode de reforme (entre 1990 et 1998). Qui plus est, on montre que le chemin de l'effet Kuznets, un rapport en forme de U renversee entre le PIB par tete et l'URID, est sensible aux modifications de la politique de developpement du gouvernement. Cette etude cherche a contribuer a la documentation au sujet des inegalites economiques geographiques en eclaircissant l'impact des politiques en faveur du developpement de l'intermediation financiere au niveau urbain sur la dynamique sous-jacente des effets de convergence et de divergence sur l'inegalite urbano-rurale. Intermediaires financiers Inegalite urbano-rurale Effet Kuznets Politique de developpement Chine Chen Y. P., Liu M. und Zhang Q. Entwicklung eines Finanzausgleichs und Dynamik der Disparitat der Einkommen in Stadt und Land in China, 1978-1998, Regional Studies. Im Mittelpunkt dieses Beitrags stehen die Auswirkungen der Entwicklung eines Finanzausgleichs auf die Disparitat der Einkommen in Stadt und Land in China. Anhand eines 20-jahrigen Datensatzes auf Provinzebene fur den Zeitraum von 1978 bis 1998 stellen wir fest, dass sich die Veranderungen in der Disparitat der Einkommen in Stadt und Land wahrend der fruhen Reformperiode (1978-1989) durch die Fiskalpolitik und wahrend der spateren Reformperiode (1990-1998) durch Finanzausgleiche erklaren lassen. Daruber hinaus weisen wir nach, dass die Richtung des Kuznets-Effekts - des Verhaltnisses zwischen dem Pro-Kopf-BIP und der Disparitat der Einkommen in Stadt und Land in Form eines umgekehrten U - auf Anderungen in der staatlichen Entwicklungspolitik reagiert. Als Beitrag zur Literatur uber raumliche wirtschaftliche Ungleichheit werden in dieser Studie die Auswirkungen einer einseitig urban gewichteten Finanzausgleichspolitik auf die zugrundeliegende Dynamik der konvergenten und divergenten Auswirkungen auf die Ungleichheit von Stadt und Land geklart. Finanzausgleich Ungleichheit von Stadt und Land Kuznets-Effekt Entwicklungspolitik China Chen Y. P., Liu M. y Zhang Q. Desarrollo de la intermediacion financiera y las dinamicas de la desigualdad urbana-rural en China, 1978-1998, Regional Studies. El tema central de este articulo son las repercusiones del desarrollo de intermediacion financiera en la desigualdad de ingresos urbanos-rurales en China. Usando un grupo de datos de panel a nivel de provincias durante un periodo de 20 anos, 1978-1998, observamos que el cambio en la desigualdad de ingresos urbanos-rurales podria explicarse por la politica fiscal durante el periodo inicial de reformas (1978-1989) y los intermedarios financieros durante el periodo posterior de reformas (1990-1998). Ademas, mostramos que la direccion del efecto Kuznets, una relacion en forma de U invertida entre el PIB per-capita y la desigualdad de ingresos urbanos-rurales, es sensible a cambios en las politicas gubernamentales de desarrollo. Como aportacion a la literatura sobre desigualdades economicas y espaciales, en este estudio describimos los efectos de la politica de intermediacion financiera con sesgo urbano en cuanto a las dinamicas subyacentes de los efectos convergentes y divergentes de las desigualdades urbana-rurales. Intermediacion financiera Desigualdad urbana-rural Efecto Kuznets Politica de desarrollo ChinaFinancial intermediation, Urban-rural inequality, Kuznets effect, Development policy, China,

Disposable Bodies and Labor Rights: Workers in China's Automotive Industry

This article focuses on the serious occupational health and safety (OHS) injuries affecting the workers of one of China�s most important industries-automotive assembly-and particularly the musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) that are common in the industry. The data are drawn from a 2011 survey of 1,100 autoworkers conducted at twelve assembly plants in seven Chinese cities. By correlating injury rates with age, speed of the assembly line, length of work hours, mental pressure, availability of floaters to replace absent workers, ease to take sick leave, etc., the data identify the most salient causes of MSD. The study raises the issue that the state and management�s ignoring of MSD and the lack of workers� participation and representation in the plants constituted a violation of labor rights. The article offers some remedies that are applicable both in China and internationally