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Chinese imports and income inequality: evidence from six East Asian economies
Author(s) -
Wong Mathew Y. H.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
asian‐pacific economic literature
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.232
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1467-8411
pISSN - 0818-9935
DOI - 10.1111/apel.12317
Subject(s) - china , inequality , economic inequality , east asia , economics , wage , wage inequality , chinese economy , income distribution , development economics , demographic economics , labour economics , geography , mathematical analysis , mathematics , archaeology
The study adopts a mixed‐methods design with quantitative and narrative accounts of inequality formation in Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Imports from China, but not elsewhere, have a strong positive impact on domestic income inequality. With growing volume of cheaper imports, local industries lose competitiveness or even relocate to China in some cases. This paper suggests manufacturing employment as one of the causal pathways from Chinese imports to rising income inequality, as the wage gap between the top and bottom widened following the loss of middle‐wage manufacturing jobs.