Paying for Progress in China

China's stunning record of economic development since the 1970s has been marred by an increasingly obvious gap between the country's 'haves' and its 'have-nots'. This collection traces the causes of this growing inequality, using new data including surveys, interviews, newly available official statistics and in-depth fieldwork.

Vivienne Shue is the Leverhulme Professor and Director of the Contemporary China Studies Programme at Oxford University. Christine Wong is the Henry M. Jackson Professor of International Studies at the University of Washington.

Introduction: Is China Moving to a More Equitable Development Strategy? 1. Can the Retreat from Equality Be Reversed? An Assessment of Redistributive Fiscal Policies from Deng Xiaoping to Wen Jiabao 2. Has China Reached the Top of the Kuznets Curve? 3. Local Governance, Health Financing, and Changing Patterns of Inequality in Access to Health Care 4. Paying for Education in Rural China 5. Social Security in Transition 6. Investing in Rural China: Tracking China's Commitment to Modernization 7. Who Receives Subsidies? A Look at the County Level in Two Time Periods 8. Local Governance, Policy Mandates and Fiscal Reform in China