New data from a Chinese think tank suggests that the government has succeeded in tamping down on inequality, flying in the face of academic evidence and sparking fresh controversy over the divide between China's haves and have-nots.
中国一家智库机构的新数据显示，政府成功地抑制了贫富差距的扩大。这与学术证据不符，并再次引发有关中国贫富差距问题的争论。The calculation by the International Institute for Urban Development in Beijing puts China's Gini coefficient a widely used measure of inequality at 0.438 in 2010. That means China is fractionally more unequal than in 2005, when the Gini coefficient came in at 0.425 according to data from the World Bank.
根据北京国际城市发展研究院(International Institute for Urban Development)的计算，2010年中国的基尼系数为0.438。这意味着中国贫富差距较2005年只是略有扩大。据世界银行(World Bank)数据，当年中国的基尼系数是0.425。The Gini coefficient is a measure of income distribution. A score of 0 would represent perfect equality, a score of 1 would mean one individual controlled 100% of income. South Africa, with a score of 0.631 and Colombia at 0.559 are amongst the most unequal societies in the world according to World Bank data. The Unites States has a gini coefficient of 0.408 in 2000, according to the World Bank.
基尼系数是一个反映收入分配差异程度的指标。如果该系数为0，则代表完全平等，如果系数为1，则代表某一个人掌握了100%的收入。据世界银行数据，南非的基尼系数为0.631，哥伦比亚为0.559，都属于世界上最不平等的社会之列。世界银行数据显示，2000年美国的基尼系数为0.408。
Zhu Yinghui, a researcher at the institute, said that China's wealth gap raised concerns about China's development path. 'The income gap between urban and rural, between communities, and lack of middle class are factors that could affect social stability,' she said.
北京国际城市发展研究院的研究员朱颍慧说，贫富差距问题引起了人们对中国发展道路的担忧。她说，城乡之间、社区之间的收入差距，中产阶级的缺失，都是可能影响社会稳定的因素。Gauging China's level of inequality is made more difficult by uncertainty about household income. Calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data show the top 10% of households control around 32% of income. But China's statisticians acknowledge that difficulty collecting data on the income of the rich introduces uncertainty into the official numbers.
由于家庭收入状况不明，测量中国贫富差距的难度较大。按国家统计局的数据计算，最上层10%的家庭控制了大约32%的财富。但中国统计人员承认，由于获取富人收入数据存在困难，官方数据不太可靠。An academic survey of more than 8000 households across China conducted in 2011 suggests a much greater level of inequality, with the top 10% controlling 56% of income. 'That makes China more unequal than the United States and even more unequal than African societies' said Gan Li a Professor at China's South Western University of Finance and Economics and Texas A&M University in the U.S. who led the survey.
2011年对中国各地8,000多户家庭的学术调查显示收入差距要大得多，最上层10%的家庭掌握了56%的财富。中国西南财经大学兼美国德州农工大学(Texas A&M University)教授、调查牵头人甘犁说，这使中国的收入分配不平等状况差于美国，甚至比非洲国家还要差。The CIA also publishes a calculation of the Gini coefficient, which it puts at 0.48 in China in 2009 substantially higher than the institute's calculation for 2010. The CIA put the Gini coefficient for the U.S. at 0.45 in 2007.
美国中央情报局(CIA)也有基尼系数公布，中国在2009年的系数是0.48，远远高于北京国际城市发展研究院计算的2010年系数。根据CIA计算，美国在2007年的基尼系数是0.45。Growing inequality reflects a combination of factors. 'China started out thirty years ago with everyone equally poor, as incomes rise it is natural that inequality should as well,' said Louis Kuijs, China economist at RBS. 'But that benign inequality has been accentuated by policies that benefited factory owners, not the mass of workers,' he added.
贫富差距的扩大是多种因素的综合反映。苏格兰皇家银行(RBS)中国经济学家高路易(Louis Kuijs)说，30年前的中国大家都一样穷，随着收入增加，贫富差距自然也应该扩大，但有利于工厂老板而不利于广大工人大众的政策，加重了这种本属良性的贫富差距。A growing divide between have and have-nots has far reaching implications for China's future growth. 'The main conclusion is that redistribution of income is the key to raising China's consumption,' said Texas A&M's Mr. Gan. That's because low-income households spend a higher share of their income than rich households.
贫富差距的扩大，对中国将来的经济增长有着深远的影响。甘犁说，主要结论是收入再分配是提高中国消费水平的关键。这是因为低收入家庭支出占收入的比重大于富裕家庭。Household consumption in China came in at just 34.9% of gross domestic product in 2011, down from 46.0% in 2000 and substantially below the 70% rate in the U.S. With investment producing diminishing returns and export growth falling close to zero in July and August, raising consumption has become crucial to keeping growth on track.
2011年中国家庭消费只占国内生产总值(GDP)的34.9%，低于2000年的46.0%，远低于美国的70%。随着投资回报越来越低、7月至8月的出口增速接近于零，增加消费已经成为保增长的关键。Inequality in the distribution of income also raises fears of social instability. But Martin Whyte, a professor at Harvard who has conducted extensive survey work on social attitudes in China, said the link was not straightforward. 'It is subjective popular perceptions of fairness or unfairness, not objective income and wealth trends that contribute to instability,' he said. 'Its cases like Bo Xilai that call attention to corrupt gains that get ordinary Chinese people angry about social injustice.'
收入分配不平等也会引起社会不稳定的忧虑。但对中国社会心态做过广泛调查的哈佛大学(Harvard)教授怀默霆(Martin Whyte)说，这种关联不是直接的。他说，导致不稳定的是民众主观上对公平或不公平的看法，而不是客观上的收入与财富趋势；让中国老百姓对社会不公感到愤怒的，是薄熙来案等让人注意到贪腐收入的案件。