The Impacts of Globalization on Inequality in the Post-COVID-19 World: Evidence From China

Tsun Se Cheong; Yanrui Wu; Michal Wojewodzki; Ning Ma

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.790312

The Impacts of Globalization on Inequality in the Post-COVID-19 World: Evidence From China

Front Public Health. 2021 Nov 29:9:790312. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.790312. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Tsun Se Cheong¹, Yanrui Wu², Michal Wojewodzki¹, Ning Ma³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Economics and Finance, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Department of Economics, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
³ School of Financial Management, Hainan College of Economics and Business, Hainan, China.

Abstract

Empirical studies suggest that globalization (FDI and international trade) has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 and related anti-pandemic measures imposed by governments worldwide. This paper investigates the impact of globalization on intra-provincial income inequality in China and the data is based on the county level. The findings reveal that FDI is negatively associated with intra-provincial inequality, intra-provincial inequality increases as the primary industry sector (agriculture) declines. The result also finds that the increase in inequality stems not from the development in the tertiary or secondary industry sectors per se, but the unevenness in the distribution of these sectors.

Keywords: C5; COVID-19; China; F6; R11; county level; globalization; inequality.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
China / epidemiology
Commerce
Humans
Internationality*
SARS-CoV-2