A Study On Income Gap Between Urban And Rural Residents In Yunnan Province And Its Factors Involved

Income gap between urban and rural residents and the problems concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers are the current focus of our party and the country. It’s also been a heated topic for social and theoretical researches. Income gap between urban and rural residents is one of the main aspects, which is closely related to the problems concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers. The continuous increase of the gap can lead to many a social problem, hinder the economy and society to develop in a healthy, orderly and sustainable way and has no good to the achievement of constructing socialist harmonious society. Yunnan is province of long borders with many ethnic groups and underdeveloped economy and society, where peoples’living conditions are generally poor. Though the policy of reform and opening to the outside world has been carried out for30years in our country, the income gap between urban and rural residents is still very large and even keeps increasing. So it’s obviously of great importance to study on the income problems of urban and rural residents in Yunnan, to analyze the main factors resulting in the continuously widening gap and to work out measures for better developing agricultural production, increasing rural residents’incomes, decreasing the income gap between urban and rural residents and promoting economy and society of Yunnan to develop well and fast.After reviewing the related foreign and domestic theories and researches in this area, the author studies and analyzes on income gap between urban and rural residents in Yunnan province and its factors involved based on forerunners’work.Firstly, the author analyzes the present situation of income gap between urban and rural residents in Yunnan province. Based on qualitative research and with the methodology of econometrics and quantitative analysis, the author analyzes the31years’statistics since the start of reform and opening policy, the difference in income gap between urban and rural residents, the differences in deposits and Gini coefficient. He draws the conclusions that the income gap between urban and rural residents in Yunnan province is large and it’s becoming wider and wider year by year according to the absolute data.Secondly, the author analyzes and predicts the trend of income gap between urban and rural residents in Yunnan province. He predicts the variation tendency of income gap between urban and rural residents in the future several years through analyzing and processing the statistics of absolute average income gap between1978and2008. With ARMA—a high precision short-term prediction model, he concludes that income gap between urban and rural residents in Yunnan will keep increasing even at a faster speed.Thirdly, the author analyzes the factors that cause the continuous increase of income gap between urban and rural residents in Yunnan province. By the stepwise regression in multivariate statistics, the author analyzes the main causes of the increase of income gap between urban and rural residents in Yunnan province, and the influential degree of each factor that impacts income gap between urban and rural residents by establishing a multiple regression model. The first research result is that the low output value of the first industry is the main factor that influences the increase of income gap between urban and rural residents. The second is that the small amount of loan delivery to countryside and the slow increase of rural inhabitants’net income are its other two important causes.Finally, the author explores some countermeasures and suggestions to narrow the income gap between urban and rural residents. In accordance with the research result, the author puts forward several suggestions, such as increasing output and income of the first industry with positive measures, increasing support for agriculture of financial assets, and improving rural inhabitants’income comprehensively.The research demonstrates that since the policy of reform and opening to the outside world has been carried out, the income gap between urban and rural residents in Yunnan province has been enlarged. Up to now, the absolute disparity of annual average income has broken through10thousand yuan, and Gini coefficient has approached to warning lines. Besides, in the coming years, the trend that the gap keeps increasing quickly should be concerned by the government and other social sectors. Thus, government should take effective measures guided by a comprehensive strategy of overall coordination to narrow the income gap between urban and rural residents and develop the economy and society in Yunnan province fast and well by improving output and income of the first industry, increasing support for agricultural financial assets, and improving rural inhabitants’income comprehensively.