Research On The Change Of The Degree Of Polarization In Urban-Rural Income In Central China

Income distribution inequality has always received concerns from all sectors of the society. Recently, income polarization began to attract the attentions of scholars. The degree of income polarization varies between urban and rural residents in many areas in China; furthermore, differences exist in different areas. This dissertation will thoroughly analyze the static characteristics and dynamic evolution characteristics of income polarization in the central region of China. It will also explore the long term equilibrium relationship between income polarization between urban and rural areas and regional economic growth.The author will first use the empirical data from six provinces in the central region of China to get the income polarization index between urban and rural areas (ER index) of 88 cities in the central region of China. Then those areas will be ranked according to the ER index, and then divided into four categories based on the degree of income polarization between urban and rural areas:the most serious area, serious area, general area, and not significant area. Then the author will discuss the characteristics and spatial distribution of the four areas and analyze the development differences between those areas. In the dynamic analysis part, the author used the data of year 2000 and 2009, analyzed dynamic evolution characteristics of the income polarization between urban and rural residents in the central region of China during the 10 years from levels of prefecture-level cities, provinces, and the four categories divided. Finally, the dissertation explores the dynamic relationship between income polarization between urban and rural areas and regional economic growth from the perspective of the overall dimensions of the central region of China. The main conclusions are:the degree of income polarization between urban and rural residents in the central region of China differs, the distribution is extremely uneven, there is significant regional and spatial divergence, and the income polarization between urban and rural residents is also severe in different provinces in the central region of China. The number of the most serious areas is much larger than the number of the general area and the not significant area. From the view of the characteristics of the spatial distribution, the number of the most serious area is huge. The dynamic analysis shows that, except some reduction in a few cities, the income polarization index between urban and rural areas shows varying degrees of growth in most cities. During the discussion of the relationship between income polarization between urban and rural areas and regional economic growth, through the co-integration test, the author found that there is a co-integration equation between the income polarization index between urban and rural areas and the GDP per capita; that is there is a long term equilibrium relationship between them.