From Workers to Capitalists in Less than Two Generations: A Study of Chinese Urban Top Group Transformation Between 1988 and 2013

Authors: Li Yang, Filip Novokmet, and Branko Milanovic

Publication: The British Journal of Sociology. vol. 72, no. 3. pp. 478–513.

Date: June 2021

Abstract:

Economic and social transformation of China during the past 40 years is without precedent in human history. While the economic transformation was extensively studied, social transformation was not. In this paper, we use for the first time harmonized household surveys covering the period 1988–2013 to study the changes in the characteristics of the richest 5 percent of China’s urban population. We find that it changed from being composed of high government officials, clerical staff, and workers in 1988 to professionals and small and large business owners in 2013. The educational level of the top group increased substantially. Membership in CCP has a positive (albeit small) effect on one’s income but is particularly valuable to large business owners.

Link: From Workers to Capitalists in Less than Two Generations: A Study of Chinese Urban Top Group Transformation Between 1988 and 2013 [PDF]

Preprint Version: Stone Center Working Paper Series. no. 06