Family changes and income inequality under globalization: The case of Hong Kong

The development of an urban locale as a global city has been regarded in the literature on urban development as a critical determinant of growing social polarization. I re-examine this thesis by using the case of Hong Kong, which has attained the status of a major global city because of the development of producer and financial services that has resulted from the acceleration of globalization. While showing that the Hong Kong experience largely supports the polarization thesis as indicated by widening occupational and income polarization, I also introduce a socio-demographic dimension into the analysis. I argue that income disparity at the individual level is also reflected at the household level through different patterns of family formation and household employment strategies. To substantiate this argument, I use data from the Hong Kong Population Censuses to analyse trends in household income inequality between 1991 and 2001, a period of heightened globalization in Hong Kong. By decomposing aggregate income inequality and isolating the contribution of husbands and wives and different types of households, this paper puts into sharp relief the ways in which local and socio-demographic factors mediate the economic processes of globalization.
按城市發展學的論述，從「城市」發展為「全球化城市」的過程乃引發社會兩極化的關鍵。本文以香港的經驗驗證此論述。在全球化的推動下，香港從一個工業城市轉型為一個以服務業為主導的全球化城市。本文希望從社會及人口角度，進一步探討全球化對個人收入以至家庭收入兩極化的負面影響，這點從家庭結構及其成員的就業分工可見一斑。本文運用1991及2001年的人口普查數據，闡述香港在這高速全球化的十年間家庭收入兩極化的趨勢，並透過分析家庭類型、夫婦收入比例，理解香港經濟全球化的本土和社會人口因素。 Copyright © 2005 Stephen Chiu.