| Since the adoption of reform and opening-up policy,China has enjoyed rapid economic growth over the past four decades.While the standards of living for urban and rural residents have been rising,China also faces an accompanying downside: a widening income inequality especially between urban and rural areas.One of the most important factors that influences the income inequality is the urbanization.China released the National New-type Urbanization Plan(NUP)in 2014,proposing that urbanization is the fundamental way to reduce income inequality between urban and rural areas.Although considerable research has been devoted on the influence of urbanization on income disparities between urban and rural areas,the conclusions of scholars are divergent and controversial.In the early 1960 s,at the beginning of Japan’s high economic growth period,the income gap between urban and rural areas in Japan was at the widest level.In the middle of 1970 s,the income of urban and rural areas was almost on par.Then the per capita income of rural residents became even higher than that of urban residents.The way to narrow the urban-rural income gap in Japan is not only the urbanization of population,but also the increase of non-agricultural income of farmers in the process of rural urbanization,and the influence of agricultural policies on farmer’s income.Urban-rural income gap and urbanization are important issues that both China and Japan have experienced in the process of rapid economic development.However,at present,there are few comparative studies between China and Japan in relevant fields,especially the regional comparative studies.This paper mainly discusses the influence of urbanization on the income gap between urban and rural areas in Heilongjiang Province,which is the largest grain production base in China,then to provide references for the further study of Heilongjiang province,analyses the process of urbanization and change of income of urban and rural residents in Hokkaido,which is the largest grain production base in Japan.This paper firstly discusses the background,significance and methodology,defines some related concepts,describes the theoretical basis of the paper,and literature review.Major theories used in this paper are theories of urbanization,dual-sector model,Harris-Todaro model,and regional economic development theories.Next this paper discusses the current situation characterized by urbanization and the income gap between urban and rural areas in Heilongjiang province and Hokkaido,and from the aspect of economic status,urbanization process and the development tendeny of income gap between urban and rural areas,conducted a comparative study of Heilongjiang province and Hokkaido,finds the characteristics as follows: Heilongjiang province is one of China’s old industrial bases,the urbanization level is far higher than the average level in China at the beginning of reform and opening up policy,but with the deepening of reform,the gap reduced gradually,the urbanization of Heilongjiang province in 2015 at a rate of 58.8%;Different from Heilongjiang province,the urbanization rate of Hokkaido was almost equal to the average level in Japan at the beginning of the rapid economic growth.Later,urban population growth in Hokkaido was higher than the average rate in Japan.In 1970,the urbanization rate of Hokkaido exceeded the national average level.While Hokkaido has been at a low level of industrial development,process of urbanization in Hokkaido is characterized by the development of the service industry with a high concentration in Sapporo,the capital city of Hokkaido.In terms of urban-rural income gap,the narrowest income gap between urban and rural areas in Heilongjiang province was 1.34 in 1983 and 1984,and the widest gap was 2.66 in 2003.The income gap between urban and rural areas in Hokkaido has been fluctuating greatly,the widest gap was 1.43 in 1962.The narrowest income gap between urban and rural areas was 1.01 in 1974,1976 and 2001.The widest income gap between rural areas and urban areas was 0.73 in 2003.In the empirical analysis phase,through the unit root test,cointegration and Granger causality test,getting following conclusion: the level of urbanization and the level of financial support for agriculture are negatively correlated with the income gap between urban and rural areas,while economic growth and the structure change from agriculture to non-agriculture industry are positively correlated with the income gap between urban and rural areas.Finally,this paper summarizes the results of the above analysis and proposes the following policy suggestions for balancing income inequality between rural and urban in Heilongjiang province: increasing and maintaining labor mobility and improving the level and quality of urbanization;Scaling up of farming operation;Promoting agricultural modernization through financial support for agriculture. |
