Uneven Growth: A Comparative Study of Economic Inequality in China, Japan, and South Korea

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_31How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Economic Inequality; East Asia; China; Japan; South Korea

Abstract

This study compares inequality in China and Japan with South Korea, three key East Asian economies that have gone through rapid industrial growth and economic changes in recent decades. Though they have all achieved progress together, labor market setups, policy reactions, and institutional systems have led to varying patterns in income distribution and wealth gaps across these nations. The research examines Gini coefficients and poverty rates to delve into factors shaping inequality, such as differences in job markets for various groups and the impact of housing wealth and gender roles in work patterns across generations in these nations. It reveals that although all three nations are grappling with growing inequality trends, major contrasts exist in the origins and effects of this disparity well as the effectiveness of policies aimed at equal distribution, within their borders. In China, there are gaps between urban and rural areas as well as regional disparities that have been worsened by market liberalization policies. In Japan, inequality is somewhat reduced by its welfare system. Still influenced by labor market divisions. South Korea is grappling with increasing gaps between generations and issues related to housing. This study seeks to investigate these differences within a framework to reveal unique dynamics in each region and provide valuable insights on how to tackle inequality in fast-changing economies.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Qingyuan Zhang
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/15
TI  - Uneven Growth: A Comparative Study of Economic Inequality in China, Japan, and South Korea
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Mental Growth and Human Resilience (MGHR 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 293
EP  - 300
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_31
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_31
ID  - Zhang2025
ER  -