The Asian Development Review is a professional journal for disseminating the results of economic and development research carried out by staff and resource persons of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The Review stresses policy and operational relevance of development issues rather than the technical aspects of economics and other social sciences. Articles are refereed and intended for readership among economists and social scientists in government, private sector, academia, and international organizations.

The Review also invites contributions from external scholars and researchers dealing with Asian and Pacific development issues. All submitted manuscripts are subject to review by two external referees and one ADB staff member.

About the Asian Development Bank

ADB’s vision is an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries substantially reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. Despite the region’s many successes, it remains home to two thirds of the world’s poor.

Nearly 1.7 billion people in the region live on $2 or less a day. ADB is committed to reducing poverty through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.

Based in Manila, ADB is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance. In 2007, it approved $10.1 billion of loans, $673 million of grant projects, and technical assistance amounting to $243 million.

25th Anniversary Edition. Volume 25 Numbers 1, 2.

Asian Development Bank. June–December 2008.

Download Asian Development Review, 25th Anniversary Edition, 2008

PDF format, 3.5MB, 172Pages.

Inclusive Growth toward a Harmonious Society in the People’s Republic of China: An Overview
Justin Yifu Lin, Juzhong Zhuang, Min Tang, and Tun Lin

Inequality in Developing Asia
Ifzal Ali

Inclusive Growth toward a Harmonious Society in the People’s Republic of China: Policy Implications
Juzhong Zhuang

Achieving Equity and Efficiency Simultaneously in the Primary Distribution Stage in the People’s Republic of China
Justin Yifu Lin and Peilin Liu

Reforming the Welfare System in the People’s Republic of China —Learning from the Experience of East Asia
Mai Lu and Mingliang Feng

Inclusive Growth and Poverty Reduction in the People’s Republic of China
MinTang

Growth Pattern, Employment and Income Inequality—What the Experience of Republic of Korea and Taipei,China Reveals to the People’s Republic of China
Shi Li and Chuliang Luo

Income Inequality in the People’s Republic of China and its Decomposition: 1990–2004
Tun Lin, Juzhong Zhuang, Damaris Yarcia, and Feng Lin

Financial Structure, Development of Small and Medium Enterprises, and Income Distribution in the People’s Republic of China
Minquan Liu and Jiantuo Yu

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Preface

The economy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been growing at close to 10 percent annually since it embarked on a reform program in 1978. This rapid growth has led to a dramatic reduction in the incidence of poverty.

However, growth has been accompanied by widening income gaps, in particular between rural and urban areas and across regions, and, in more recent years, by rising nonincome inequalities such as in the access to basic medical services and health care.

Rising inequality is an emerging development challenge not only for the PRC. In the last two decades, many developing Asian countries experienced worsening income distribution. Growth and poverty reduction have been the central focus of development policy making in the past in developing Asia. More recently, as inequalities continue to rise, discussions on development policy are increasingly paying attention to the issues of equity and how to make growth more inclusive. The concept of inclusive growth is increasingly being embraced by developing countries in Asia and their development partners.

Recognizing that rising inequalities could have serious negative social and economic consequences, the PRC government has in recent years started to take measures to address inequalities. In 2006, it declared the creation of a “harmonious society”, a concept very closely related to inclusive growth, as the basic development goal in the 11th Five-Year Plan. The 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress in October 2007 further elaborated on this vision.

To contribute to the debate on how to address the challenge of rising inequalities and policy options to create a harmonious society, the Economics and Research Department and East Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) jointly carried out a study on “Inclusive Growth toward a Harmonious Society in the People’s Republic of China” in early 2007. Under the study, eight papers were prepared by scholars from the PRC and staff from the ADB. These papers were discussed at a finalization workshop on 9 August 2007 in Beijing, attended by more than 100 participants from domestic research institutes, think tanks, universities, government agencies, and international organizations. This 25th anniversary issue is a compilation of these papers, and includes an overview.

The eight papers are grouped into three different but related parts. The first part discusses conceptual issues of inclusive growth and policy options for the PRC in its endeavor to build a harmonious society. The second part draws lessons for the PRC from the experience of East Asia in addressing the equity issue in the growth and economic development processes. The third part provides empirical analysis of income inequalities in the PRC and their causal factors.

Juzhong Zhuang

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