INTERPROVINCIAL DISPARITIES IN CHINA - OUTPUT AND CONSUMPTION, 1952-1987

In late 1987, China's statistical bureau released a compendium of provincial income accounts. This article uses the new data to further reexamine interregional disparities in China since 1952. The primary purpose of the reexamination is to provide a better evidential basis for assessing China's success in pursuing regional objectives. Section II briefly describes data and methods. Section III traces the evolution of interprovincial disparities in total output and examines some of the components contributing to variation across provinces. Section IV does the same for consumption. Section V turns from summary indicators of dispersion to the growth rates of real output and consumption, keeping the performances of individual provinces in view. Section VI then focuses on the relationship between output and consumption, with special attention to redistribution among provinces. Section VII offers concluding comments. This article has reexamined the contours of socialist development in China, in the realm of regional growth and interregional disparities. The evidence pertaining to output indicates that every province in China experienced substantial real growth over the period 1952-87. The provincial experiences, however, differ quite widely in terms of overall growth rates and rates of industrialization. -from Author