A Study On The Economic Effects Of Opportunity Inequality

Fairness and efficiency are two important goals pursued by human society,but the understanding of the relationship between the two depends on the definition of fairness.Drawing on the latest theoretical research,income inequality is decomposed into opportunity inequality and effort inequality according to different sources of origin in this dissertation.This dissertation takes the opportunity inequality as an objective index to measure social fairness,and proposes that opportunity inequality could affect economic efficiency through social capital channels which include social justice,social trust and social stability.By using the Chinese General Social Survey(CGSS)data in 2008-2013(except 2009)and provincial panel data in the corresponding years,and on the basis of the quantitative measurement of technical inefficiency and opportunity inequality at the provincial level in China,an empirical test of the above conjecture is carried out.First of all,based on the concept of opportunity inequality,this dissertation takes use of the non-parametric method,proposed by Lefranc(2009),Ferreira and Gignoux(2011)and other scholars,to measure the extent of China's opportunity inequality at provincial level in years 2005-2013,and then to analyze the important determinants of opportunity inequality.The results show that there are differences in the trend of opportunity inequality and effort inequality,and the opportunity inequality of different provinces or of different years in the same province has great volatility;the degree of regional marketization and government public expenditure are the two important factors that influence opportunity inequality,of which the expansion of government public spending has the most significant inhibition on opportunity inequality.Besides,among the components of government public expenditure,the influence of health expenditure is the most important;the increase of educational expenditure,social welfare relief expenditure and social security expenditure,will also help to reduce opportunity inequality.As to the extent of regional marketization,the index of government-market relationship,factor market development,intermediary organization development and legal index,can significantly affect the degree of opportunity inequality,while the other indicators can not.Next,this dissertation carries out theoretical analysis and empirical test on the relationship between opportunity inequality and the three core elements of social capital: social justice,social trust and social stability.The results of the research on the relationship between opportunity inequality and social justice show that: first,income inequality has no significant impact on social justice,as we don't distinguish the different effects of opportunity inequality and effort inequality;second,it is the opportunity inequality,rather than effort inequality,that affects the sense of social fairness,and the sense of social fairness decreases with the increase of opportunity inequality,which confirms the applicability of the "principle of responsibility" in the context of Chinese culture and system;third,there is significant heterogeneity of family background and individual income level in the above effect.Specifically,people who have poor family background and higher income level perceive more inequity from opportunity inequality.As to the mechanism of the impact of opportunity inequality on social trust,this dissertation,based on the social psychological mechanism,develops a new interpretation mechanism that is able to accommodate both subjective identification mechanism and individual speculative mechanism,namely the psychological mechanism of fairness.It turns out that,on the whole,the impact of opportunity inequality on social trust is not significant;however,in groups with higher income levels,the increase in opportunity inequality will significantly reduce social trust.But different from the sense of social fairness,there is no significant family-background difference in the impact of opportunity inequality on social trust because of the "contagion" of the sense of trust.In addition,opportunity inequality has no significant influence on the rate of social crime,and the theoretical basis behind it is that: the absolute income level of the low-income group is rising despite the income inequality is high,and the majority of the population have reached above the subsistence level,and lack adequate incentives to defy the law.The middle or high income group has the most intense perception of opportunity inequality.However,this group not only has relatively higher absolute income level,but also has higher educational level and upward mobility possibility,so the opportunity cost of their crime is relatively higher.Then,by using the panel stochastic frontier model(Panel SFA)to estimate the technical inefficiency of 31 provinces(autonomous regions or municipalities),this dissertation analyzes the relationship between opportunity inequality and regional technical efficiency.The results show that the increase of opportunity inequality will reduce regional technical efficiency,while effort inequality will not;this negative influence is most significant in the eastern region,followed by the western region,but not significant in the middle region.Besides,considering the feedback regulation effect of social mobility expectation on individual behavior and its possible influence on economic efficiency,this dissertation also makes a theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationship between opportunity inequality and social mobility expectation systematically.The results show that in the context of the government's goal of achieving social justice,the degree of future opportunity inequality is expected to decline.Therefore,the indirect effect of the present opportunity inequality on social mobility expectation is positive and exceeds the direct effect,resulting in the positive total effect;namely,the higher the current level of opportunity inequality,the greater the upward social mobility expectations.And this positive impact is more pronounced in the group with lower-income family background,elder age,higher education level,non-agricultural household registration,or more optimistic disposition.This dissertation,for the first time,takes social capital as a breakthrough point to further explore the impact of opportunity inequality on economic efficiency.It not only enriches the theoretical and empirical research of opportunity inequality,but also helps to further understand the relationship between equity and efficiency.In the critical period of optimizing the economic structure,changing the mode of economic growth and promoting the harmonious development of our country,the research in this paper is of important theoretical and practical significance.