China's Regional Economic Disparities Since 1978: Main Trends and Determinants

Variation in market orientation in individual regions and the weakening of government intervention in regional income redistribution have been mainly responsible for the changes in China's regional economic disparities since 1978. This study suggests that China should accelerate economic growth of its backward interior regions by deepening market-oriented reforms on the one hand, and by strengthening fiscal transfers from richer to poorer regions on the other.