Regional growth and inter-regional disparities in China: 1952-199

This dissertation analyzes regional growth and inter-regional disparities in China during the 1952-92 period. The analysis distinguishes welfare and productivity aspects of growth and inequality by employing two sets of data: per capita regional product deflated by the common national deflator as an indicator of the standard of living, and per worker regional product deflated by the provincial deflator as a measure of real productivity.;First, $beta$- and $delta$-convergence and Quah's dynamic frequency distributions were examined. The examination found convergence across provinces in welfare during the reform period, but no convergence in real productivity. The difference was mainly due to the relative price effect, that is, price increases for the products of poor provinces relative to the national average. Convergence also took place within the Coastal region during the reform period both in welfare and in real productivity. No evidence for convergence in welfare, and $delta$-divergence in real productivity were found across the Coastal, Central, and Interior regions.;Second, a sectoral decomposition analysis was conducted to identify the sources of disparities in real productivity and the sources of the relative price effect across provinces. The analysis found that the major determinant of the overall pattern of disparities is the variation between the primary and other sectors. The main source of the relative price effect is the change in the nation-wide terms of trade favorable to the primary sector, working through each province's sectoral composition of output.;Third, the determinants of productivity growth and conditional convergence were analyzed through a modified version of the extended neoclassical model and the extreme-bounds analysis. The main findings are: Only labor-force growth and non-state investment, (for the reform period) are statistically robust among the basic variables. Conditional convergence does not hold without including other policy and institutional variables. Among other variables, population density, and export- and trade-output ratios (for the reform period) are positively and robustly correlated with growth.