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Growing Apart: Declining Within- and Across-Village Risk Sharing in Rural China

Orazio Attanasio, Costas Meghir, Corina Mommaerts, and Yu Zheng , May 25, 2022

China has embarked on an ambitious campaign to close income gaps, address regional inequality and unfair social welfare provision, and make solid progress toward common prosperity by 2035. This marks a shift in focus from overall growth to promoting equitable and balanced growth.

A Summary of Retail Investors and Momentum

Jun Du, Dashan Huang, Jane Yu Liu, Yushui Shi, Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, Huacheng Zhang, Oct 26, 2022

We explore the link between momentum and retail investing via an identification strategy in China, where retail investors dominate. We propose that due to a round lot restriction, small retail investors are less likely to hold and trade stocks with high nominal prices, and find supporting evidence.

Unequal Transition: The Widening Wealth Gap amidst China’s Rapid Growth

Yangtian Jiang, Yu Zheng, Lijun Zhu, Nov 08, 2023

We examine the drivers of rising wealth inequality in urban China since 1995. We highlight the intertwined nature of growth and equity during China’s transition toward a market-oriented economy.

China’s New Goal for Income Distribution: What Does it Mean and are There Tradeoffs?

Martin Ravallion, Shaohua Chen, Mar 16, 2022

China’s political leadership recently committed to expanding the proportion of middle-income groups to create a less polarised, and more ‘olive-shaped’, distribution of wealth. This column considers the potential trade-offs between reducing income polarisation and other goals, including poverty reduction.

QR Code-Based Mobile Payments and Financial Inclusion

Thorsten Beck, Leonardo Gambacorta, Yiping Huang, Zhenhua Li, Han Qiu, Nov 09, 2022

By means of a unique dataset of around half a million Chinese firms, we investigate the link between the use of a QR code-based mobile payment system and financial inclusion.