Abstract

This research aims to shed light on the causes of the rising gender income gap in China. We first apply the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method (Oaxaca, Int Eco Rev 14: 693-709, 1973; Blinder, J Hum Res 8: 436-455, 1973) to our survey data to estimate the extent to which that gap can be explained by the difference in human capital characteristics (such as years of education and years of experience). We find that a rising discrimination against females (either due to tradition or otherwise) is not the main cause of the rising gender income gap in China. Instead, we present evidence to propose that two of the three main drivers of China’s economic growth-namely, privatization and urbanization-very likely have contributed to the rise in China’s gender income gap.