Justin Yifu Lin, Binkai Chen
Author information
a The World Bank, Washington, DC 20433, USA
b School of Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100083, China
E-mail: justinlin@worldbank.org(Justin Yifu Lin), chenbinkai@gmail.com(Binkai Chen)
This paper offers a novel explanation for the lower urbanization rate and great urban-rural inequality in China. Our study reveals that, heavy-industry-oriented development strategy will result in lower urbanization rate and higher urban-rural inequality. The greater the degree of heavy-industryoriented development strategy is, the lower the urbanization rate is, and the higher the urban-rural inequality is. From a dynamic perspective, heavy-industryoriented development strategy reduces the capital accumulation rate, which results in a slower progress of urbanization and a highly persistent urban-rural inequality. The higher the degree of heavy-industry-oriented development strategy, the slower the progress of urbanization, and the longer the urban-rural inequality will last. This mechanism can potentially explain the lower urbanization rate and higher urban-rural inequality in China under a unified framework.
development strategy , urbanization , urban-rural inequality
Justin Yifu Lin, Binkai Chen. Urbanization and Urban-Rural Inequality in China: A New Perspective from the Government’s Development Strategy. Front Econ Chin, 2011, 6(1): 1‒21 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11459-011-0119-3