TITLE:
Estimating Gini Coefficient Based on Hurun Report and Poverty Line
AUTHORS:
Zhaoben Fang, Junpeng Zhu, Rongjie Deng
KEYWORDS:
Gini Coefficient; Quintile Rule; Curve-Fitting
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Statistics,
Vol.3 No.3,
June
13,
2013
ABSTRACT: Based on the review of various methods of estimating Gini
coefficient, the paper applies a quintile rule to estimate Gini coefficient of
rural areas, urban areas and the whole country using the grouped income data of
urban and rural residents. Besides, the paper uses the curve-fitting method to
roughly estimate Gini coefficient from eye-catching Hurun Rich List and the
latest poverty line. The result shows that the estimation of Gini coefficient
using quintile rule is small for both urban and rural area, while the value of
the whole country is obviously larger, which is above the warning line of 0.4.
It is indicated that the wealth gap mainly comes from the gap between urban and
rural areas. On the other hand, the estimation of Gini
coefficient using curve-fitting method is as large as more than 0.7, which
implies that the wealth gap ishighlighted from the
analysis of the lowest and highest part of the wealth distribution. All in all,
China’s current gap between the poor and the rich is serious. The reform of the
income distribution needs to speed up to ensure social harmony
and stability.