中国金融四十人论坛工作论文系列

CF40 Working Paper Series
NO. CF40WP2017017（总第70期）

Technical Change and Income Inequality in China

Xun Zhang , Guanghua Wan , Chen Wang , Zhi Luo

2017年06月01日

　　Abstract：The purpose of this paper is to explore the inequality-technical change relationship. Different from earlier studies, we aim to gauge the impact of technical change on the overall inequality, not just a particular component of inequality. This is achieved by establishing that the labor share of income is negatively correlated with overall inequality as indicated by the popular Gini coefficient, and by modeling the labor share of income as a function of technical change. The empirical model of labor share of income is estimated using 1978-2012 provincial panel data from China. The main estimation results show that technical change in China had been mostly capital-biased. It contributed to the successive reductions in China’s labor share of income, and thus rapid rises in income inequality.

　　Key words：Inequality; Technical Change; Labor Share of Income Financial Development

　　JEL：D33, E25, L32, O33

（Xun Zhang，Beijing Normal University, China; Shanghai Finance Institute。）

报告全文： Technical Change and Income Inequality in China

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