演講者簡介 : Professor Zheng received her Ph.D. in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis in 2011. She is currently a Reader at Queen Mary University of London. Her research fields are Macroeconomics, Development and Labor.
演講摘要 : This paper studies the evolution of wealth inequality during China's rapid economic growth since its market-oriented reforms in the early 1990s. We first document the evolution and composition of China's wealth distribution and summarize stylized facts on aspects of the growth and reform process that are key to understanding wealth accumulation. Then we develop a heterogeneous-agent dynamic general equilibrium model that incorporates two sectors, the rural agricultural sector and the urban manufacturing sector, with endogenous migration, occupation, and durable consumption (housing) choices subject to frictions. In particular, the persistent financial market friction that entrepreneurs face plays a key role, as it ensures that the wealth brought by rapid capital accumulation is accrued predominantly to entrepreneurs. Our quantitative exercise decomposes the rising wealth inequality in China into different contributing factors.
