ISSN: 1824-2979
by Sudip Ranjan Basu
Start page: 57 - End page: 99
Keywords: Development; Inequality; Polarization; China; India
Jel code: C43; D63; O18
DOI:
The paper compares the economic performance of China and India during the period of their ongoing reform policies. It develops a new measure of development, namely, a development quality index (DQI), to compare performance of China and India. The results show that national-level development quality grew three times faster in China than in India. Conversely, the health quality index grew three times as fast in India than China over the period 1980-2004, narrowing the gap in outcomes. The overall regional development quality level improved in both countries, but polarization widened in China. The direction of overall inter-regional polarization in China indicates a rising concentration of development gains from economic reform policies. The inter-regional economic polarization in recent years is more pronounced in India.