Poverty In China Essay

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In 1979, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, China began to become economically globalized through many economic reforms. The first reform offered price and ownership incentives for farmers, which allowed them to sell a portion of their crops to the free market, rather than the government monopolizing the whole market (Morrison, 4). Four special economic zones, along the coast, were established by the government in order to try and attract foreign direct investment. This helped to boosts exports for China, and further, allows China to import better technology from the foreign investments (Morrison, 4). In addition to the four economic zones, other cities on the coast were “designated open cities” which allowed them to practice “free market …show more content…

According to the World Bank, extreme poverty is when individuals live on less than $1.25 a day based on purchasing power parity. The Global Wealth Report from 2013 claims that, “Wealth per adult in China has grown robustly since 2000,” and although China’s currency has appreciated, “the rise in wealth reflects real growth” (“Global Wealth Report,” 48). Yet, “Significant inequality is created by the strong urban-rural divide in China” (“Global Wealth Report,” 48). Those who were wealthy, like successful entrepreneurs and professionals, continue to grow financially, helping China account for over one million millionaires (“Global Wealth Report,” 48). However, while it may have raised some to new financial heights, the newfound wealth of China was not equally distributed among the citizens. The Theil index, used to measure economic inequality shows continued divides between the wealth of the richest and poorest citizens and helps to equate for different regional elements that other inequality measurements fail to identify. From 1987 to about 2008, where there was an economic crisis, the Theil Inequality Index for China rose from 0.012516 to 0.0823007, a 0.0697847 increase in disparity. This is shown in Figure 1 (Appendix) taken from the University of Texas Inequality Project. The divide between the people is present between provinces and sectors, which really just means that the economic inequality is present in any given

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