This article examines the differential impacts of marketisation and economic development on gender earnings inequality in reform-era urban China. Based on data from the 2005 population mini-census with prefecture-level statistics, we distinguish the effect of economic development from that of marketisation on the gender earnings gap. Multi-level analyses reveal that marketisation and economic development have affected gender inequality in different ways: whereas market forces have exacerbated gender earnings inequality, economic development has reduced it. Overall, marketisation appears...  [+] Show more

This article examines the differential impacts of marketisation and economic development on gender earnings inequality in reform-era urban China. Based on data from the 2005 population mini-census with prefecture-level statistics, we distinguish the effect of economic development from that of marketisation on the gender earnings gap. Multi-level analyses reveal that marketisation and economic development have affected gender inequality in different ways: whereas market forces have exacerbated gender earnings inequality, economic development has reduced it. Overall, marketisation appears to be the main driver of the increase in gender earnings inequality in urban China. Implications for policies promoting gender equality in China are discussed.

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