城乡收入差距与居民消费结构:基于相对收入理论的视角

Urban-rural Income Gap and Consumption Structure:A Study Based on Relative Income Hypothesis

利用中国家庭金融调查2011年与2013年的面板数据,本文从相对收入理论的角度检验了城乡收入差距对居民消费结构的影响。研究发现,城乡收入差距扩大显著促进了农村家庭的人力资本和社会资本投入,但挤出了生存型和享受型商品消费。与对农村家庭的影响相反,城乡收入差距扩大对城镇家庭的人力资本投入有负向影响,但显著促进了他们的享受型商品消费。进一步的研究发现,城乡收入差距扩大对农村和城镇的低收入阶层、城乡居民间有更多接触机会的群体的影响更大。这些发现均与相对收入理论一致,城乡收入差距扩大激励了农村家庭不断追赶城镇家庭,当城乡收入差距逐步缩小时又激励了城镇家庭进一步提升与农村家庭之间的差距。研究还发现,政府增加对农村地区的教育投入可缓解城乡收入差距扩大对农村家庭食品衣着消费的挤出,且不会挤出农村家庭的私人教育投入。

Using panel data from China Household Finance Survey （CHFS） in 2011 and 2013, this paper studies the impact of urban-rural income gap on consumption structure based on relative income hypothesis. We find that the increasing urban-rural income gap pro- motes human capital and social capital investment but crowds out their living and entertain- ment consumption for rural household. However, the gap has an opposite impact on urban household consumption structure. Further studies show that urban-rural income gap has a larger effect on low-income class and the household who have more interactions between ru- ral and urban household. We also find that increasing education budget in rural area can mit- igate the crowding out effect of urban-rural income gap, and it will not reduce the personal education expenditure of rural household.