The Trend of Income Inequality of Urban Households in China: Analysis Based on the Bounds of Sample Gini Coefficient

摘要

When grouped data samples are used to study the trend of income inequality, the accuracy of the estimation of Gini coefficient using parametric approach directly is skeptical, since the population distribution of income or the pattern of Lorenze curve may change with time.In order to solve the problem, this paper proposes a method calculating the bounds of sample Gini coefficient to depict the trend of income inequality.Using this method, we analyze the trend of income inequality of urban households from 1996 to 2009 in China.The result shows that the income inequality of urban households becomes more serious year by year.