Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Political Science
Date of Defense
5-6-2011
Graduate Advisor
David Brian Robertson
Committee
Dr Fung Hung-Gay
Dr David Kimball
Dr Kenneth Thomas
Abstract
Patterns of economic inequality across three Chinese regions-- the West, the Inland, and the Coastal area-- changed twice from 1949 to 2005. During the period 1949 to 1979 regional inequality decreased, and after 1979 inequality increased. Previous studies, including economic models, cultural studies, and international relations theory, cannot fully explain changes in Chinese regional inequality after 1949. This dissertation uses Institutional Theory (IT) to analyze the changing patterns of Chinese regional economic inequality after 1949. Analyzing economic data and political documents with IT, the dissertation shows that changes in Chinese political institutions, including political parties, policy-making agencies, and institutionalized ideologies, affected these two changes in regional inequality after 1949. The dissertation concludes that IT is necessary and sufficient to explain the shifts of regional inequality in post-1949 China; that is, the changes in political institutions influenced economic institutions which in turn affected economic outcomes. Moreover, this dissertation also indicates that IT may also be useful to explain regional inequality in countries that have institutional similarities with China.
OCLC Number
755089357
Recommended Citation
Yan, Qiang, "Political Institutions and Regional Inequality in China: 1949 to 2005" (2011). Dissertations. 437.
https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/437