Regional inequality is one of the most challenging issues facing China in the coming decade. Whilst this matter can be approached from different standpoints; mainstream scholars have tended to examine this issue by way of monetary measurement (e.g. GDP or income per capita). This study draws attention to the non-monetary aspect in order to shed new light on regional inequality. This book focuses on the gaps and trends of human capital development, a key non-monetary index proxying for regional inequality in transitional China. Taking education and health status as two key indicators, in particular, this book aims to trace the trends in regional inequality over the last two decades, investigate to what extent those two dimensions can help to identify and integrate factors behind regional disparities, and to analyse some profound policies and implications. The analysis of this study should be useful to professionals in educational and health economics as well as policy-makers on social development, or anyone else who may be interested in economic, political and social challenges in China posed by inequalities.

Regional inequality is one of the most challenging issues facing China in the coming decade. Whilst this matter can be approached from different angles; mainstream scholars have tended to examine this issue by way of monetary measurement (e.g. GDP or income per capita). This study draws attention to the non-monetary aspect in order to shed new light on regional inequality. Accordingly, this research focuses on the gaps and trends of human capital development, a key non-monetary index proxying for regional inequality in transitional China. Taking education and health status as two key indicators, in particular, this research aims to trace the trends in regional inequality over the last two decades, investigate to what extent those two dimensions can help to identify and integrate factors behind regional disparities, and to analyse some profound policies and implications. Based upon official educational and health status statistics at provincial level, this study develops a model to exam regional disparity between the three economic development zones from 1990 to 2005. Main findings are that different perspectives of regional inequality bring out different consequences; from the viewpoint of human capital development, regional inequality presents positive findings in uneven development. Secondly, causes of development are fairly diverse and different measurements may significantly vary outcomes. Thirdly, uneven development is a spontaneous phenomenon underlying development, which over varying lengths of time may have stimulated economic growth in a positive way. Finally, limitations are discussed associated with policy implications.

Ch. 1. Why China is likely to achieve its growth objectives / Robert W. Fogel -- ch. 2. The contribution of health and education to economic growth in China / Dean T. Jamison, Lawrence J. Lau and Jia Wang -- ch. 3. Education, innovation and economic growth / Xiaoguang Chen -- ch. 4. Endogenous health care and life expectancy in a neoclassical growth model / Michael C. M. Leung and Yong Wang -- ch. 5. Demand for education in China / Gregory C. Chow and Yan Shen -- ch. 6. Human capital and educational demand in China : 2000-2030 / Xiaoying Zheng ... [et al.] -- ch. 7. Changes in the pattern of China's school enrollment rates between 1990 and 2000 / Rachel Connelly and Zhenzhen Zheng -- ch. 8. School attainment and cost of education in rural China / Linxiu Zhang ... [et al.] -- ch. 9. The educational consequences of migration for children in China / Zai Liang and Yiu Por Chen -- ch. 10. An economic analysis of health care in China / Gregory C. Chow -- ch. 11. A theoretical analysis for Chinese new rural cooperative medical system / H. Holly Wang -- ch. 12. Wealth, education and demand for medical care : evidence from rural China / Jin Feng, Bei Qin and Yangyang Yu -- ch. 13. Famine and overweight in China / Zhehui Luo, Ren Mu and Xiaobo Zhang -- ch. 14. Immunization uptake in China / Åke Blomqvist and Haoming Liu -- ch. 15. Changing health inequality in China : the role of relative income / Zhuo Chen, Steven T. Yen and David B. Eastwood -- ch. 16. The relationship between health and schooling / Michael Grossman -- ch. 17. Income productivity in China : on the role of health / Gordon G. Liu ... [et al.] -- ch. 18. Ill health and its potential influence on household consumptions in rural China / Hong Wang, Licheng Zhang and William Hsiao -- ch. 19. Wages and returns to education in Chinese cities / Dennis Tao Yang -- ch. 20. The external returns to education : evidence from Chinese cities / Zhiqiang Liu -- ch. 21. Discrimination and development : the case of beauty in China / Daniel S. Hamermesh, Xin Meng and Junsen Zhang.

Exploring one of the most dynamic and contested regions of the world, this series includes works on political, economic, cultural, and social changes in modern and contemporary Asia and the Pacific.

This report was prepared with the primary objective of drawing insights on how Asian economic giants India and the People's Republic of China leveraged education and skills development to advance economic growth. The analysis presented similarities and differences in human capital development strategies and their outcomes that helped define development pathways between the two countries. It also outlined the prospects for human capital development in the sustainability of the two countries' economic growth. The report was completed in 2014 under the Development Partnership Program for South Asia: Innovative Strategies for Accelerated Human Resource Development in South Asia (TA-6337 REG).

"Market-oriented reforms initiated four decades ago have constantly fueled a high speed of development in China. The country's industrial structure has experienced rapid evolution. In the meantime, especially in the general context of globalization, China has also opened to foreign trade and foreign direct investment, transforming itself from a virtually completely closed economy into a major trading nation and the largest developing-country destination for foreign direct investment in the world. Human capital is thought to be one of the key factors that shape the transformation of the Chinese economy. With different human capital intensities, uneven development is one major issue in the process of China's industrial transformation under new trends of globalization. Substantial disparities across different Chinese regions, e.g. the gaps in regional industrial development and those in incomes and living standards have been one prominent feature of China, and are closely related to different speeds of human capital accumulation. This book therefore aims to explore the potential and actual mechanisms through which human capital accumulation and human capital intensity may affect industrial development and development disparities in China. The book is able to provide the readers with new facts and new findings that shed light on their understanding of important issues related to human capital and economic transformation of China"--

This book develops a human capital model to explain transformational growth within different stages of economic development, which will induce technological changes and consequently will require a change in human capital. China is a case study in transition and can provide useful lessons to other emerging economies.