The China Gini Grows

SOYMB blog in a previous post described how in the USA the rich are becoming richer. The same situation exists in China according to this press report.

The gap between the poor and the rich is increasing and China is on the verge of severe income inequality officials told an Expo forum yesterday in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province.

China's Gini coefficient, a measure of the inequality of a distribution, was 0.475 in 2007, the latest figure available. The figure was close to 0.5, which represents extreme income inequality, according to Li.

Eric Maskin, professor of Princeton University, defined the income inequality as a "side effect". He said "It's a transitional and temporary problem"

But , of course it is - as temporary and transitional as the American increasing inequality!