Housing Ownership, Incomes, and Inequality in China, 2002–2007

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139035057.005

3 - Housing Ownership, Incomes, and Inequality in China, 2002–2007

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2013

Hiroshi Sato ,

Terry Sicular and

Yue Ximing

Edited by

Shi Li ,

Hiroshi Sato and

Terry Sicular

Show author details

Hiroshi Sato: Affiliation:
Hitotsubashi University
Terry Sicular: Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
Yue Ximing: Affiliation:
Renmin University of China
Shi Li: Affiliation:
Beijing Normal University
Hiroshi Sato: Affiliation:
Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
Terry Sicular: Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Introduction

An important feature of the post-Mao period has been the resurrection of private property rights. A variety of interrelated policies, including the lifting of prohibitions on private enterprise, ownership reforms in industry, the development of stock markets, and real estate and housing reforms, have paved the way for the expansion of private property and household wealth, with implications for incomes and inequality. Estimates by Li, Luo, and Sicular in Chapter 2 of this volume, calculated using the 2002 and 2007 China Household Income Project (CHIP) surveys, show that the share of household income derived from financial assets and housing and their contribution to income inequality has increased, especially in urban China.

In this chapter we examine changes in private ownership of housing and the implications for the distribution of housing wealth and income. We focus on housing wealth rather than on total wealth mainly because the CHIP 2007 data do not contain sufficient information to permit the estimation of total wealth. Housing wealth, however, can provide insights into the role of total wealth, because housing is the single most important household asset in China. Past studies of wealth in China have found that privately owned housing constitutes nearly 60 percent of household wealth and accounts for two-thirds of inequality in wealth among households (Li and Zhao 2008; Zhao and Ding 2008).

Type: Chapter
Information: Rising Inequality in China
Challenges to a Harmonious Society
, pp. 85 - 141

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139035057.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Arrondel, L. and Lefebvre, B. (2001), “Consumption and Investment Motives in Housing Wealth Accumulation: A French Study,” Journal of Urban Economics, 50(1), 112–137.Google Scholar

Burger, , , R., Booysen, F., van der Berg, S., and von Maltitz, M. (2008), “Marketable Wealth in a Poor African Country: Wealth Accumulation by Households in Ghana,” in Davies, J. B., ed., Personal Wealth from a Global Perspective, 248–268, New York: Oxford University Press.

Buttimer, R.J., Gu, A.Y., and Yang, T. (2004), “The Chinese Housing Provident Fund,” International Real Estate Review, 7(1), 1–30.Google Scholar

Cagetti, M. and De Nardi, M. (2008), “Wealth Inequality: Data and Models,” Macroeconomic Dynamics, 12 (Supplement S2), 285–313.Google Scholar

Campbell, J.Y. (2006), “Household Finance,” Journal of Finance, 6(4), 1553–1604.Google Scholar

Chen, Z., Chen, J., and Liu, S. (2008), “Ande guangsha qianwanjian: Zhongguo chengzhen zhufang tizhi shichanghua gaige de huigu yu zhanwang” (Retrospect and Prospects for the Marketization of the Chinese Urban Housing System), Shijie jingji wenhui, no. 1, 43–54.Google Scholar

Cheng, S., ed. (1999), Zhongguo chengzhen zhufang zhidu gaige (Urban Housing Reform in China), Beijing: Minzhu yu jianshe chubanshe.

Chongqing Fuling Municipal Bureau of Land and Resources (2009), “Chongqingshi tongchou chengxiang fazhanzhong cujin nongcun zhaijidi liuzhuan duice yanjiu” (Research on Measures to Promote Rural Housing Land Transfers in Chongqing City's Overall Urban-Rural Development), December 15, at . Accessed September 7, 2011.

Davies, J.B. and Shorrocks, A.F. (2000), “The Distribution of Wealth,” in Atkinson, A.B. and Bourguignon, F., eds., Handbook of Income Distribution, Vol. 1, 605–675, New York: Elsevier.

Deaton, A S. (1990), “Saving in Developing Countries: Theory and Review,” World Bank Economic Review, Proceedings of the 1989 World Bank Annual Conference on Development Economics, 61–96.

de Brauw, A. and Giles, J. (2008), “Migrant Labor Markets and the Welfare of Rural Households in the Developing World: Evidence from China,” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, No. 4585, The World Bank, Washington, DC.

Dong, J. and Yao, C. (2011), “Ze'ou biaozhun: Ershiwunian de shanbian (1986–2010)” (Choice of Mate: Changes in 25 Years, 1986–2010), Zhongguo qingnian yanjiu, no. 2, 73–78.Google Scholar

He, H. and Deng, N. (2009), “Biange shidaide Zhongguo nongcun zhufang fazhan zhuangkuang: Chengjiu yu tiaojian” (Progress and Challenges of Rural Housing in Changing China), Gansu lianhe daxue xuebao (Shehui kexue ban), 25(3), 66–70.Google Scholar

Huang, Y. and Yi, C. (2010), “Consumption and Tenure Choice of Multiple Homes in Transitional Urban China,” International Journal of Housing Policy, 10(2), 105–131.Google Scholar

Ioannides, Y.M. and Rosenthal, S.S. (1994), “Estimating the Consumption and Investment Demands for Housing and Their Effect on Housing Tenure Status,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 76(1), 127–141.Google Scholar

Jia, K. and Liu, J. (2007), “Woguo zhufang gaige yu zhufang baozhang wenti yanjiu” (Study on Housing Reform and Housing Welfare), Caizheng yanjiu, no. 7, 8–23.Google Scholar

Leonhardt, D. (2011), “Rent or Buy, A Matter of Lifestyle,” New York Times, May 11, B1.

Li, S. and Zhao, R. (2008), “Changes in the Distribution of Wealth in China, 1995–2002,” in Davies, J.B., ed., Personal Wealth from a Global Perspective, 93–111, New York: Oxford University Press.

Luo, H. (2009), “Zhengfu zhongshi minsheng buneng hushi zhufang baozhang zeren: Dui woguo zhufang zhengce de huigu yu sikao” (The Government Should Assign Priority to Housing Welfare: A Retrospect and Reflection on Housing Policy), Renminwang (People's Daily Online), February 1, . Accessed September 7, 2011.

Meng, X. (2007), “Wealth Accumulation and Distribution in Urban China,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, 55(4), 761–791.Google Scholar

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) (various years), Zhongguo tongji nianjian (China Statistical Yearbook), Beijing: Zhongguo tongji chubanshe.

Pollock, A.J. (2010), “Housing Finance in International Perspective,” testimony at the hearing on “Comparison of International Housing Finance Systems” to the Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, September 29, . Accessed June 4, 2011.

Qin, H. and Zhong, T. (2009), “Woguo nongcun zhufang zhidu gaige jiben xianzhuang yu zhengce jianyi” (Current Situation of the Reform of the Rural Housing System and Some Policy Implications), Jingji yaocan, no. 78, 16–23.Google Scholar

Quadrini, V. and Ríos-Rull, J.V. (1997), “Understanding the U.S. Distribution of Wealth,” Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review, 21(2), 22–36.Google Scholar

Ren, B. and Kang, W. (2003), “Fanggai miju” (Confusing Maze of Housing Reform), in Caijing zazhi bianjibu, ed., Zhuanxing Zhongguo (Transitional China), 40–52, Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.

Ruo, M. (2009), “Nongcun zhaijidi liuzhuan Jiaxing moshi diaocha” (An Investigation into the Jiaxing Model of Rural Housing Land Transfers), Ziyuan yu renju huanjing, no. 24, 49–50.Google Scholar

Sato, H. (2006), “Housing Inequality and Housing Poverty in Urban China in the Late 1990s,” China Economic Review, 17(1), 37–50.Google Scholar

Saunders, P. and Siminski, P. (2005), “Home Ownership and Inequality: Imputed Rent and Income Distribution in Australia,” University of New South Wales Social Policy Research Centre Discussion Paper No. 144, Sydney.

Short, K., O’Hara, A., and Susin, S. (2007), “Taking Account of Housing in Measures of Household Income,” paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of the Allied Social Sciences Associations, Chicago.

Sierminska, E. and Garner, T.I. (2005), “A Comparison of Income, Expenditures and Home Market Value Distributions Using Luxembourg Income Study Data from the 1990's,” Working Paper No. 380, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, DC.

Smeeding, T.M. and Weinberg, D.H. (2001), “Toward a Uniform Definition of Household Income,” Review of Income and Wealth, 47(1), 1–24.Google Scholar

Sun, W. and Hua, Q. (2009), “Nongcun zhaijidi liuzhuan Jiaxing moshi diaocha” (An Investigation into the Jiaxing Model of Rural Housing Land Transfers), Diyi caijing ribao, November 25.

Tomba, L. (2004), “Creating an Urban Middle Class: Social Engineering in Beijing,” China Journal, no. 51, 1–26.Google Scholar

Wilhelmsson, M. (2008), “House Price Depreciation Rates and Level of Maintenance,” Journal of Housing Economics, 17(1), 88–101.Google Scholar

Wu, J., Gyourko, J., and Deng, Y. (2010), “Evaluating Conditions in Major Chinese Housing Markets,” NBER Working Paper No. 16189, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.

Xin, C. and Zhou, H. (2009), “Qianxi nongcun zhufang zhidu gaige: Yi Ningbo weilie” (A Simple Analysis of the Reform of the Rural Housing System: Using Ningbo as an Example), Nongcun jingji yu keji, 20(10), 31–33.Google Scholar

Xu, C. and Kong, X. (2009), “Gaige kaifang sanshi nian lai nongcun zhaijidi zhidu bianqian: Pingjia ji zhanwang” (Changes in the Management System of Rural Land for Housing Use: Evaluation and Prospects), Jiage yuekan, no. 8, 3–5, 15.Google Scholar

Yemstov, R. (2008), “Housing Privatization and Household Wealth in Transition,” in Davies, J.B., ed., Personal Wealth from a Global Perspective, 312–333, New York: Oxford University Press.

Zax, J.S. (2003), “Housing Reform in Urban China,” in Hope, N.C., Yang, D.T., and Li, M.Y., eds., How Far Across the River? Chinese Policy Reform at the Millennium, 313–350, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Zhang, L. (1998), Gaobie lixiang: Renmin gongshe zhidu yanjiu (Farewell to the Ideal: A Study on the People's Commune System), Shanghai: Dongfang chuban zhongxin.

Zhao, R. and Ding, S. (2008), “The Distribution of Wealth in China,” in Gustafsson, B. A., Li, S., and Sicular, T., eds., Inequality and Public Policy in China, 118–144, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Zhao, S. (2006), “Shilun nongcun zhaijidi zhidu gaige” (Preliminary Discussion of the Reform of the System of Rural Housing Land), Nongcun gongzuo tongxun, no. 10, 32–34.Google Scholar