An Empirical Study on the Regional Economic Disparity in China

The expanding tendency of regional disparity in China is the result of the economic reform in 1978.By using Theil index to analyze the data from 1978 to 2007,the author finds out that the change of China's intra-regional and inter-regional disparity shows apparent stage characteristics,which is similar to the changing tendency of China's total regional disparity.To a great extent,the expanding disparity of regional economy has close relationship with the financial system of China.Therefore,it is necessary to narrow regional economic disparity by clarifying the responsibility and the financial power between central and local governments from the perspective of financial system reform,and improving transfer payment system.