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Income Inequality and Distributive Justice: A Comparative Analysis of Mainland China and Hong Kong*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2009

Abstract

Over the past decades income inequality has been sharply increasing in both mainland China and Hong Kong, two Chinese societies that have distinct paths of institutional development. While previous studies on income inequality have attempted to document the trend and investigate its causes, this article focuses on people's perceptions of legitimate income inequality and how these perceptions are related to their attitude towards inequality. Analyses of data collected in separate population surveys in China (2005) and Hong Kong (2007) reveal a higher degree of tolerance of income inequality and a higher degree of perceived fairness of income distribution in Hong Kong than in the mainland. In both societies, such normative support for income inequality is positively associated with people's perceptions of opportunities.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2009

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References

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26 For example, analyses show that Chinese people tend to tolerate merit-based inequalities. In the 2003 Chinese General Social Survey, respondents were asked “who should get a higher income?” 64% of respondents said “professionals and highly educated,” 13.7% said “workers” and 12.8 % said “state cadres or managers in state or collective owned enterprises” should earn more. Chinese people stress much more than many other societies that merit-based attributes are the main reasons why some people are poor while others are rich. See Bian, Yanjie, Chinese General Social Survey 2003: Technical Report and Users' Manual (Hong Kong: HKUST Survey Research Center, 2005)Google Scholar; Whyte and Guo, “How angry are Chinese citizens.”

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30 In the Chinese survey, respondents were asked: “According to the local living standards, in your opinion, a household with 3–4 members can be considered ‘poor’ if the average monthly income is below _____ and ‘rich’ if the average monthly income is _____ or above.” In the Hong Kong survey, respondents were asked: “According to recent statistics, the household median income was HK$17,100 in Hong Kong in 2006 (with a household size of 3). In your opinion, what average monthly household income would mean that the household was ‘poor’? What average monthly household income would mean that the household was ‘rich’?”

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34 The selected occupational categories cannot be matched exactly to respondents' own occupations. In many cases, approximately similar occupations are used in this exercise.

35 Despite the fact that the list of occupations in China and Hong Kong is not identical to the list in ISSP, it is modified based on the ISSP questions and covers the major occupations. The comparisons of the “do earn” and “should earn” Gini index are informative.

36 Osberg and Smeeding, “Fair inequality,” pp. 450–73.

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38 For example, the appointment of Wong Yan Lung, the son of a street peddler, as Secretary for Justice was termed a “Hong Kong story.” The appointment of K.C. Chan, the son of a taxi driver, as Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury was seen as another “Hong Kong legend” by the local media.

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