Abstract:

Since the reform and opening up policy was implemented in 1978, the region of Yangtze River Delta—including Shanghai, 8 cities of Jiangsu province and 7 cities of Zhejiang province—has become one of the most energetic and richest regions in China.It also leads the whole economic development in China.In spite of the great achievement in overall economy, there is a huge disparity in per capital net income of rural households (PCNIRH) in 16 cities in this area.This paper discusses the outcome of PCNIRH disparity in the Yangtze River Delta from 1978 to 2004 by means of the absolute discrepancy index, the comparative discrepancy index and convergence method.

Key words: Yangtze River Delta, net income of rural households, variance coefficient, GINI coefficient, convergence