Impact of economic reforms on Chinese urban and rural population
China’s economic reforms have brought about dramatic economic growth. According to Chow (2004), “the average rate of growth of real GDP in the first two decades of reform was about 9.6 percent annually.” However, the reforms have also contributed to an increase in inequality within China. This is supported by the estimates Wang (2008) drew from the World Bank which show that China ranks third in income inequality in the world in terms of the Gini index in the 1990s.
The economic reforms began at 1978, which saw a rise in private sectors. Prior to the reforms, more than 95% of the urban population work in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and collective sectors (Wang, 2008). With
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Apart from being a large manufacturing hub, China is also a global manufacturer and exporter which has helped to drive its economy. Over the years, China has been exporting high-technology goods. Its electronic exports accounted for 30% of Asia’s total in that industry (Hale & Hale, 2003). At the end of 2010, China has surpassed Japan as the world’s second-biggest economy (Flanders, 2011). Being a dual hub (Hale & Hale, 2003), with high levels of exports and imports, involved in manufacturing and trade, China holds an essential position in the global supply …show more content…
By opening up its economy, America, Europe and Japan were able to shift their labour-intensive operations to China to take advantage of the large supply of labour pool and low labour costs (Tang & Parish, 2000). Given the large labour supply and the relevant infrastructure that are needed to support Apple’s operations, Apple has outsourced its operations to China (Rawson, 2012). Therefore, Apple’s products are designed in California but assembled in China. By liberalizing its economy, China has emerged to be one of the fast growing countries and may be a world leader in the