Income Polarization in Asia

The subject of this study is income polarization, an important but neglected dimension of income distribution. Estimates of two measures of income polarization are obtained for the population, rural, and urban sectors using household survey data on expenditures per capita for a sample of Asian countries. The findings include the following: Income polarization and inequality, the latter measured using the Gini coefficient, are highly positively correlated; in most countries, urban income polarization is higher than rural income polarization; and lastly, higher rates of growth in GDP and per capita GDP, higher levels of educational attainment of household heads, and high rates of employment in manufacturing may be important in keeping income polarization at low levels.