Three Papers on Economic Inequality and Social Mobility.

[摘要] Since the late 1970s, China’s transition from state socialism to a market economy has brought not only rapid economic growth but also a tremendous increase in social and economic inequality. This dissertation uses a variety of quantitative techniques to examine how labor markets, political institutions, state policies, and demographic processes have jointly shaped trends in earnings inequality and in intergenerational social mobility in China. My findings suggest that the rise of earnings inequality over the past two decades is due as much to changes in labor force composition as to increases in returns to education. Trends in social mobility, however, defy a unidimensional portrayal, as the impacts of market transition and industrialization differ not only in direction but also in kind.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] social mobility

[关键词] economic inequality;social mobility;Chinese society;Sociology;Social Sciences;Sociology and Statistics