通货膨胀对居民收入不平等异质影响效应研究

The Impact of Inflation on China's Household Income Inequality

为了检验通货膨胀对城乡间、城镇内部和农村内部的收入不平等影响存在的异质性,文章首先建立经济均衡模型阐述通货膨胀对居民收入不平等的影响机理,其次采用1995—2012年二十个省市数据建立动态面板模型进行实证检验。研究发现:理论方面,假设信贷市场是非完美的,导致不同收入水平家庭面临的投资机会不同。长期的通货膨胀使资本的积累比率降低,但是在资本形成过程中至少部分投资机会需用现金支付,中低收入水平家庭受这种约束影响更大,从而建立起通货膨胀和居民收入不平等的正向效应。实证方面,通货膨胀对城镇居民收入不平等、农村居民收入不平等和城乡居民收入不平等都产生即期的正向效应,并且对农村居民影响大于城镇居民。

In order to test the heterogeneity of the impact of inflation on the income inequality between urban area residents and rural area residents,within urban area residents and within rural area residents,an economic equilibrium model is established to elaborate the mechanism of the impact of inflation on the households' income inequality.After that,an empirical test is done by using a dynamic panel model with data of twenty provinces or municipalities from 1995 to 2012.The results show that:theoretically,with the assumption that the credit market is imperfect,households at different income level will face different investment opportunities.Long-run inflation tends to reduce the rate of capital accumulation.But in the process of capital formation,at least some investment opportunities need to be paid in cash,which will have a relativelly larger impact on the families at middle and low income level.That is to say,higher inflation leads to higher income inequality on the condition of equilibrium,which means a positive effect between inflation and household income inequality.Empirically,the inflation has a spot positive effect on income inequality,regardless of urban area,rural area or between urban and rural area.The spot positive effect on rural households' income inequality is greater than that on the urban households.The results are of significant policy implications for controlling and reducing income inequality.