China’s Extreme Inequality
The Structural Legacies of State Socialism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12520147 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew G Walder (0000-0001-7515-4854, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Pages | 1-26 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The China Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1324-9347 • E-ISSN: 1835-8535 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/725576 |
| OpenAlex | W4376273945 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 35 |
With modest income differences and virtually no private wealth four decades ago, China’s inequalities of income and wealth are now almost as extreme as in the United States and Russia. Despite unusually high levels of state control over national assets and strong fiscal capacity, redistribution of income and wealth is barely measurable. This puzzling outcome is a by-product of China’s highly distinctive political and economic structures, which retain many features of the prior state socialist model. These structures are designed to maintain Communist Party control, enforce the priorities of the central Party-state, and push rapid growth through high levels of investment. They include migration controls coupled with state ownership of land, an enduringly large capital-intensive state sector served by a financial system dominated by state banks, a tax base heavily dependent on the scale of production, a fiscal system that favors central priorities and drives subnational governments into land expropriation and property development, and the near absence of taxes on household property and related income
China · Communism · Development economics · Economic inequality · Economic policy · Economic system · Economics · Expropriation · Inequality · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Redistribution (election · Redistribution of income and wealth · Socialism · State (computer science · State ownership · Unemployment · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Organizing Through Division and Exclusion
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Capitalism Russian-Style
Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour
Income Inequality and Progressive Income Taxation in China and India, 1986–2015
From Soviets to oligarchs
China’s Local Government Debt
Introduction to SI
Path Dependency Reexamined
Elite Opportunity in Transitional Economies
After State Socialism
Fiscal Implications of Population Aging and Social Sector Expenditure in China
Is China Socialist
The Lopsided Continent
Inequality and Social Stratification in Postsocialist China
Market Transition, Industrialization, and Social Mobility Trends in Postrevolution China
Inequality and Equality under Chinese Socialism
Getting Paid
Household Wealth in China
Public housing into private assets
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |