Abstract: Since the late 1990s, due to the relative slowdown of economic growth and the gradual acceleration of economic restructuring, the reform of state-owned enterprises has entered a critical stage, resulting in an increase in laid-off workers and increased employment pressure. The income gap has become a hot and sensitive topic that people pay attention to. The author thinks that the main reasons for the widening income gap of residents are: the difference of personal quality; The influence of market competition; The income gap between emerging industries and traditional industries is also reasonable; The gap between development foundation and natural endowment. However, the widening income gap or public dissatisfaction is more caused by unreasonable factors. Among them, there are a lot of illegal income; The monopoly problem is outstanding; The influence of policy factors; Insufficient redistribution ability and other factors.

Since the end of 1990s, due to the relative slowdown of economic growth and the gradual acceleration of economic restructuring, the reform of state-owned enterprises has entered a critical stage, which has led to an increase in laid-off workers and increased employment pressure, and the income gap has become a hot and sensitive topic of concern. So, how big is the income gap between residents? What's the impact? What countermeasures should be taken? These problems have not only become the focus of people's general concern, but also caused in-depth dialogue in the economic circles.

First, the performance analysis of the income gap between residents

Since the reform and opening up, great changes have taken place in China's income distribution system and scale. With the deepening of economic system reform, the income level of residents has been continuously improved: in 2000, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 6280 yuan, which was 18.3 times of 1978. Excluding the price factor, the per capita disposable income of urban residents in 2000 was 3.84 times that of 1978; In 2000, the per capita net income of rural residents was 2253 yuan, 6.9 times that of 1978. Excluding the price factor, the per capita net income of rural residents in 2000 was 4.83 times that of 1978. At the same time, the personal income gap of residents is also expanding rapidly, and the comprehensive expansion has been recognized by all walks of life. Its specific performance and characteristics are as follows:

1. The income gap between urban residents is still within a reasonable range. According to the calculation made by the relevant departments of the National Bureau of Statistics on the basis of the annual data of regular surveys of urban residents, the Gini coefficient of urban residents was 0. 16 in 1978, and rose to 0.295 in 1999, up by 13.5 percentage points. From its development stage, the income gap from 1978 to 1984 is very small, and the Gini coefficient has hardly changed. From 1985 to 1994, the income of urban residents increased rapidly, and the income gap also widened rapidly. The Gini coefficient reaches 0.3 at 1994. 1995 to 2000, the income growth rate of urban residents slowed down, and the Gini coefficient hovered, with little change. As far as this statistical data is concerned, the overall level of Gini coefficient of urban residents' income in China is lower than that in the United States, and it is at a medium level compared with the international level. However, this is quite different from everyone's daily feelings. The main reason is that the income of high-income residents is concealed at present. For example, in the third quarter of 1999, the National Bureau of Statistics and relevant departments investigated the basic situation of150,000 urban residents. In August, the Gini coefficient calculated by 1999 reached 0.354, which was significantly higher than 0.295. In addition, due to the persistent income gap, the wealth possession between families is more obvious. According to the data provided by a survey report of the National Bureau of Statistics, in cities, by the end of June 1999, the top 20% urban households with financial assets accounted for 55.4% of all urban residents' financial assets, while the bottom 20% households only owned 65,438+of all financial assets. There are also some survey reports showing that the gap is even greater. Therefore, although we can draw the basic conclusion that the income gap between urban residents is still within a reasonable range from the current statistical data, we should also pay attention to the fact that the actual Gini coefficient is higher than this figure and it is necessary to pay attention to it.

2. The income gap of rural residents is slightly larger than that of urban residents, but the growth rate is not as fast as that of urban residents. According to the calculation of relevant personnel, the Gini coefficient of rural residents was 0.2 1 in 1978, and reached 0.34 in 1998, an increase of 13 percentage points. The absolute level is higher than that of cities and towns, and the growth rate is slower than that of cities and towns.

3. The income gap between urban and rural areas is more obvious. According to the calculation of the World Bank, China's Gini coefficient is 0.3 in 1978, 0.382 in 1988 and 0.445 in 1995, which has exceeded the internationally recognized medium level of inequality. According to 1994, five groups of data of urban and rural areas, the richest 20% families account for 50.24% of the total income, and the poorest 20% families only account for 4.27% of the total income, which is close to or equivalent to the level of the United States. Regardless of the possibility that the income level of rural residents is overestimated and the income level of urban residents is relatively conservative, the urban-rural income ratio in 2000 was 2.79: 1, second only to the highest point since the reform and opening up, that is, 2.86: 1 in 1994. Because a considerable part of the income of rural residents will be used as productive input for the next year, the income gap between urban and rural residents is actually more prominent. From the international comparison, China's current urban-rural income ratio has exceeded the gap between urban and rural areas in most countries and regions in the world. It can be said that the income gap between urban and rural areas is the biggest problem in the field of income distribution in China, and it is also an urgent problem to be solved in China's economic development.

4. The regional disparity is very obvious. At present, the income gap between different regions is very obvious, whether it is within urban residents or rural residents. From the internal situation of cities and towns, Guangdong, Zhejiang and other three municipalities directly under the central government and coastal provinces are significantly higher than those in the central and western regions. For example, Shanghai with the highest average income level is 2.52 times that of Shanxi Province with the lowest income level. From the internal situation in rural areas, because the income level of rural residents is generally low, the development difference between different regions is large, and the income gap is also large. For example, in 1999, the per capita income of Shanghai with the highest income was 5,409 yuan, and that of Zhejiang with the highest income was 3,948 yuan, which was 4. 13 times and 3.02 times that of Xizang Autonomous Region with the lowest income level respectively. If the area is delineated, then this gap will be more obvious. According to our preliminary data of countries around the world, China is one of the countries with the biggest regional disparity in the world.

5. The gap between industries has further widened. 1990 The income ratio between the highest income industry and the lowest income industry was 1.3: 1, 1990, and it rose to 2.6: 1. The three industries with the highest income are: mining, scientific research and technology and geological water conservancy, while the three industries with the lowest income are: 1999. During the period, the three industries with the highest income became: real estate, finance and insurance, scientific research and technology, and the three industries with the lowest income became: commercial catering, social services and mining industry. Moreover, this gap has nothing to do with the education level and ability of practitioners, but is completely determined by the nature of the industry.

6. Extra-wage income has become the main factor of widening income gap. According to the survey data of relevant departments, the wage income of urban residents in China is still an important source of family income, accounting for about 45% of the total income and contributing about 40% to the total gap. Except for the 5% high-income group, the proportion of other income groups in wage income is higher than or equal to its proportion in total income, which shows that wage income has always played a role in income balance. However, we notice that the extra-wage income has accounted for about 55% of the total income, and the contribution rate to the total gap has reached about 60%, which exceeds the contribution of wage income, indicating that the inequality of extra-wage income is the main factor forming the total gap. Of course, extra-wage income is concentrated in high-income groups to a greater extent, and the proportion is significantly higher than other groups.

In addition, the income gap of residents is also reflected in gender, age, education level, enterprise type and ownership difference.

Second, the reasons for the widening income gap among residents

As for the reasons for the widening income gap among residents, we think there are both reasonable and unreasonable factors. As far as reasonable factors are concerned, there are mainly:

1. Differences in personal qualities. Under the condition of market economy, personal ability is directly proportional to income. The stronger the ability, the higher the income, which is in line with the law of economic development. Only in this way can we fully mobilize people's subjective initiative and stimulate people's enthusiasm for innovation and enterprising. At present, especially in the late 1990s, there are more and more high-quality talents with reasonable knowledge structure, good professional quality, the ability to find opportunities, the courage to seize opportunities and good interpersonal skills. It should be said that the resulting personal income gap is reasonable.

2. The influence of market competition. After more than 20 years of reform, China's economic system has undergone fundamental changes. The framework of the socialist market economic system has been basically determined, and the market has become the most important force in allocating resources. In the field of income distribution, the market mechanism has basically replaced the traditional planning method, and basically formed an income distribution system in which distribution according to work and various production factors participate in distribution. Therefore, in the process of market competition, different social members and different economic organizations will inevitably form and expand the income gap due to differences in competitiveness, labor contribution and factor input. The income gap formed by competition, especially in the field of primary distribution, is the inevitable result of economic marketization.

3. The income gap between emerging industries and traditional industries is also reasonable. We have noticed that in recent years, due to the decline in the competitiveness of traditional industries and the narrow market space, the income level has not increased rapidly. Moreover, those emerging industries, such as IT, have developed rapidly and the income level of employees is relatively high. In fact, this is also caused by the difference between market competition and profitability. It is a worldwide trend and has certain rationality.

4. The gap between development foundation and natural endowment. The differences between different regions, whether urban or rural, in terms of geographical location, natural conditions, economic base and possession of various resources are extremely prominent, and the influence of these huge differences on the results of the competition is obvious. In fact, both the economic development gap and the income gap of residents have been roughly determined from the beginning. Moreover, the basic conditions and income gap between different urban and rural areas and between different regions usually form a strong "Matthew effect." The more developed the place, the stronger the ability to gather resources, the greater the development potential, and the higher the income of residents, while the place with poor basic conditions is the opposite. In this case, if there are no special factors, the gradual expansion of the gap is inevitable. It should be said that the difference in the starting point of competition caused by the difference in development basis and natural endowment will be common in any country and society, especially in China, a country with unbalanced development, which has certain internal laws.

However, the widening income gap or public dissatisfaction is more caused by unreasonable factors, specifically:

1. All kinds of illegal income abound. Since1990s, the degree and scope of abuse of power for personal gain and money transactions have expanded rapidly. From the main links, the distribution of funds and materials extends to the transfer of land leasing, project construction contracting, product purchase and sale and collective consumption (kickbacks), and now it extends to the change of property rights of state-owned enterprises. From the perspective of the departments that generate power and money transactions, it has expanded from economic management departments to law enforcement departments such as industry and commerce, taxation, customs, public security, and social service departments such as culture, education, and health, and even began to infiltrate into political fields such as organization and publicity. The existence of a large amount of illegal income has aggravated the social income distribution gap. According to the estimation of relevant departments, there are many millionaires and billionaires in China at present. What deserves special attention is that the problem of tax evasion is very serious all over the country at present. Experts pointed out that the proportion of illegal interception of state taxes by various economic organizations and individuals in China is 40% in the state-owned economy, 50% in the township economy and 70-80% in the individual economy, resulting in a total tax loss of at least 6,543.8 billion yuan each year, of which the loss of self-employed individuals is about 30 billion yuan. As a result, all kinds of illegal income have created a group of high-income classes, which has intensified the polarization of society. At present, the most violent social reaction and perhaps the most prominent influence on income inequality is the corrupt behavior of using authority to obtain ill-gotten gains. In recent years, a number of major cases involving millions and tens of millions of people and huge illegal gains have fully explained this problem. Although it is impossible to accurately estimate the role of illegal factors such as corruption in aggravating income inequality at present, considering the general public dissatisfaction and a large number of situations reflected by comprehensive media, it is certain that related problems have become more serious. At present, many statistical results about distribution are inconsistent with public perception, and it is even difficult to explain the huge consumption gap in real life, which may be the main reason.

2. Monopoly problem is more prominent. Monopoly has always been a stubborn disease in the process of China's economic marketization. Its main performance is that some departments or industries or even some individual members of society, or through various means, implement market entry restrictions, crowd out or even crack down on other competitors, and conduct monopoly operations; Or control and manipulate market prices to obtain excess profits; Or use information asymmetry, that is, information monopoly, to conduct unfair transactions or even speculation. The fundamental difference between this monopoly and the traditional state monopoly system is that the monopoly interests cannot be concentrated in the state, but most of them are transformed into the interests of small groups of industries and departments, which is manifested in the unreasonable widening of the income gap between employees in these industries or departments and other groups. In other words, using unfair competition such as monopoly, some groups can get very high returns with little investment. In the current income gap between industries, departments and units, the role of unfair competition such as monopoly is quite prominent.

3. The influence of policy factors. From the perspective of regional income gap, although the gap between regions is related to the natural environment, geographical location and past investment system in infrastructure, key projects and other fields. At the same time, it is also related to the promotion order of reform and opening up and the differentiated policies in the development process, that is to say, some policies since the reform have intensified the expansion of regional differences. From the personal situation of residents, in the early days of reform and opening up, with the support of the policy of "allowing some people to get rich first", the income of urban residents in China increased substantially. At the same time, the income gap of urban residents is also increasing, but the high-income people at that time were neither government officials nor business managers, nor professional and technical personnel, but unemployed and unemployed people engaged in simple commodity trade. This is of course closely related to the historical background at that time and the development stage of our country, but it cannot be said that it is also related to the policy system at that time.

4. Insufficient redistribution capacity. Using transfer payment and other means to implement redistribution is the basic means to alleviate the income distribution gap and the basic responsibility of the government. However, in reality, various means of redistribution have failed to play their due role, failed to effectively adjust the distribution gap formed by market competition and non-market factors, and even further aggravated the income gap in some areas. Specifically, there are: (1) ineffective regulation of high-income groups, and insufficient taxation, especially personal income tax. First, the income from personal income tax is not ideal. Second, in some areas, the actual tax burden of low-income groups is higher than that of high-income groups, which is a typical difference between farmers and urban residents. (2) The protection of the low-income class is not enough. (3) Some formed transfer payment systems are inclined to high-income groups, especially in the welfare systems such as medical care and housing. For example, many benefits are basically only provided to urban residents, and rural residents with low incomes cannot enjoy them.

Third, the impact of excessive income gap.

Undeniably, the existence of a certain income gap is conducive to stimulating residents' spirit of striving for progress and positive struggle, and is conducive to the development of the national economy. This can be seen from the comparison between China's previous big pot system and the broken one. However, the excessive income gap and the existing unfair distribution will also lead to a series of problems.

1. Affect the effective growth of domestic demand. If the income gap is too large and there is a trend of polarization, and this gap is mainly caused by unfair environment or illegal means, it will suppress the enthusiasm of the working people and cause damage to the development of the national economy. Because production determines distribution, and distribution counteracts production. If the distribution is reasonable, with the increase of people's income, it will improve consumption power, stimulate market demand and promote economic growth. On the other hand, if the income gap is too large and a large amount of money is concentrated in the hands of a few rich people, the purchasing power of most working-class people will not be improved accordingly, resulting in the phenomenon that "those who have money do not buy things, and those who want to buy things have no money", the overall consumption level of society will inevitably decline. At the same time, the formation of new economic growth points and the development of pillar industries will be suppressed to a certain extent, thus reducing investment demand and adversely affecting the growth of effective domestic demand. In recent years, China has adopted a series of policies and measures to expand domestic demand, and achieved certain results, but it is not as good as everyone expected. In addition to some changes in the international environment and development stage, another important reason is that the income level of low-income groups, especially rural residents, has grown slowly, or even declined in some places, which has affected the growth of their consumption demand and had a negative impact on their future expectations, making the policy of expanding domestic demand unable to achieve the expected results.

2. It has a negative impact on social stability and social atmosphere. The gap in social income distribution is too large, which will also have a serious negative impact on social and political life and affect social health and social stability. With the reduction of social welfare and the income level of the broad masses of people, their mentality will change to a certain extent, and some people will even take risks and embark on the road of crime, thus endangering social stability and having a certain impact on social stability. Especially because of the unfair income distribution, the masses have strong dissatisfaction, which affects their participation in reform, opening up and economic construction, and even their trust in the government will decline, which greatly reduces the implementation of policies and measures in practical work. Moreover, this unstable emotion is highly contagious and will have a great negative impact on the stability of the whole society and the formation of a good social atmosphere.

Therefore, the problem of unfair income distribution and excessive income gap should not be underestimated. It is not only a problem in the field of income distribution, but also a big problem that affects economic development and social stability.

Fourth, understanding and thinking about the income gap.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that the problem of income gap between residents in China is really prominent at present, which has both reasonable and unreasonable factors. Excessive income gap will also have a bad impact on economic development. So how do you look at this problem?

1. Pursuing efficiency and giving consideration to fairness should still be the keynote of income distribution policy in the coming period. Nobel Prize winner Kuznets put forward the "inverted U-shaped" hypothesis through the statistical analysis of income distribution in many countries, that is, the income distribution inequality of a country will deteriorate with the early economic development, reach the highest level, and then improve with the later economic development. At the same time, he concluded that the per capita national income is between 300 and 500 dollars, and the inequality of income distribution has reached the highest level. At present, China's per capita GDP has reached 800 US dollars, exceeding the peak area of "inverted U", so some experts believe that the income distribution policy should be greatly adjusted, with more emphasis on fairness. However, the author thinks that Kuznets' empirical conclusion may not be suitable for China's situation, especially because of the different stages of historical development, his $ 300-500 is quite different from the current $ 300-500. At the same time, China is a big developing country in transition from a planned economy to a market economy. Development is the last word and an eternal theme. Moreover, with the establishment and perfection of market mechanism, market mechanism will play a greater role in distribution pattern and scale. Therefore, first of all, we should affirm a reasonable and orderly income gap that meets the requirements of market economy development, is conducive to the optimal allocation of resources and the improvement of economic efficiency, and at the same time give more environmental support in policy. Especially in the initial distribution, efficiency should be placed in a more important position.

2. Create a fair income distribution environment and pursue fairness at the starting point, not at the end. The so-called fairness at the starting point means that people stand on the same starting line and get different results through their own competition, while the fairness at the end point means that no matter how much efforts members of society make in the competition process, the final income is the same. Since ancient times, China has had the idea of "not suffering from widowhood, suffering from inequality", lacking due recognition and respect for private property, and its essence is an idea of pursuing "end fairness". In this case, it will affect the improvement of social efficiency at this stage and may also cultivate a group of lazy people. The adjustment of income distribution policy does not make the rich poor, but makes the poor rich. We should make a big economic cake from the perspective of increment, and then raise the income level of the poor, instead of depriving the rich from the perspective of stock. It should be the general direction of current income distribution to create a level playing field and let individual residents get reasonable income returns by virtue of their personal abilities.

3. The problem of income gap in distribution according to "capital" should be investigated in the long history of social development. Capital is the material basis of social production, the materialized labor of human society, the material undertaker and material condition of living labor in the production process, the necessary condition of social production, the indispensable factor and condition of creating and increasing value, and the objective necessity of social wealth accumulation and concentration in the stage of social and economic development to market economy. According to the distribution of "capital" and through the interest mechanism, the relevant social production factors are mobilized to the maximum extent and transformed into social production capital, so that the market economy can develop continuously on an unprecedented scale. Therefore, distribution according to "capital" is a compulsory form and effective means of social accumulation and wealth growth in the historical stage when social productive forces have developed but are not sufficient. Distribution according to "capital" is the recognition and reward of ownership of means of production and currency. Because of this, capital interests and labor interests can not be ignored, and they are also part of the total wealth of society. There is a certain income gap in distribution according to "capital", which will undoubtedly infringe on capital interests, reduce the rate of return on capital, weaken the desire for investment, slow down the speed of capital movement, reduce the scale of production and slow down the speed of economic development. Since the widening income gap is inevitable in the distribution according to capital, we can't simply resort to morality, justice and emotion instead of treating it scientifically, let alone take super-economic measures to cancel it. Only in this way can the productive forces develop and society progress.

4. Break the monopoly and create an institutional environment with fair income distribution. At present, the existence of a large number of monopolies and institutional obstacles has become a prominent problem in income distribution. Judging from the operation of monopoly industries in China, there are many unnatural institutional factors behind monopoly, and the interests of industry departments are stubborn, which hinders the establishment of a fair market competition order, encourages corruption, causes dissatisfaction from all walks of life, and is not conducive to economic development. Therefore, breaking monopoly and creating an environment of fair competition are not only the needs of economic development, but also the way to solve the unfair income distribution. In addition, besides other factors, the institutional barriers of urban and rural barriers are also an important factor. Therefore, in order to solve the income gap between urban and rural areas, we must break down the urban-rural barriers and let the factors of production, especially the labor force, flow freely between urban and rural areas.

5. Standardize the income distribution order to make residents' income more transparent. At present, the sources of personal income in China are too complicated, and there are dozens or even dozens of subdivisions, including monetary income and physical income, income within the unit and income outside the unit, salary and bonus income and welfare income. Due to the complexity and confusion of income forms, the transparency of personal income is not high, which can not truly reflect the real situation of income gap and wealth gap. On the one hand, the confusion of income distribution order increases the unreasonable income gap, on the other hand, it also increases the difficulty of adjusting income distribution. Therefore, standardizing the income distribution order and strengthening the transparency of residents' income can avoid the loss of tax sources on the one hand, and prevent corruption and other improper behaviors to a certain extent on the other hand, and narrow the income gap.

6. Increase income distribution. If efficiency comes first in the initial distribution, then the second distribution should be based on fairness, and the low-income class should be given full consideration and care by giving full play to the functions of the state in this regard, so as to avoid further widening of the income gap to some extent.

7. Increase the development of the central and western regions. Try to correct the regional differential development policy adopted in the past to promote economic development, give fair treatment from the policy environment, take care of redistribution, promote the development of the central and western regions, and narrow the income gap between the eastern, central and western residents.