Ninghua Zhong pointed out that although the paper has shown certain stylized facts about income inequality in China, it is important to explain why inequality is what it is in China. He offered a few possible explanations for the observed decline in income inequality in the paper.
He said that more attention should be given to migrants to understand the turning points of income inequality around the 2008–09 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). After 2008, many migrant workers (about 20–30 million) went back to the rural areas after firms located in the eastern area closed. This would reduce rural inequality.
He said that richest families are probably missing from the survey. They are constantly moving from city to city or even going abroad. He asked the author to provide an opinion on whether there is an over- or under-estimation of income inequality. He pointed out that if the survey excludes the...