Consumption Inequality in Urban China: 1988--2009

Abstract

The fluctuation of consumption inequality has been described by using survey data of China urban residents. Researchers have found that since Chinese economic reform, the inequality of urban consumption has become more serious, and it has been worse than the inequality of income. Since 1994, consumption inequality has become worse. After 2002, the up-going worse condition of the unequal consumption became more significant, and since then the Gini Coefficient has been stable, which means it merely has too much change. Although since 1988 the consumption inequality has become worse, the benefit that consumption brought along has kept going up year by year.
Key words: Consumption inequality; income inequality; Social welfare