Equity Index Construction and Research on Wealth Gap

Book excerpt: This book constructs a Chinese Social Equality Index–the Mongoose Social Equality Index–with the wealth gap index as its core, and the legal equality index, the socio-cultural equality index, and the financial equality index as its supplement. The book focuses on the influence of the wealth gap on economic and social issues. Empirical research shows that there are three turning points in the influence of the wealth gap index on economic growth: discrepancy turning point, golden turning point and destructive turning point. Based on the latest data,the current expected wealth gap index in China has surpassed the destructive point. This means that wealth brought about by economic growth will largely go to the rich, which aggravates inequality and even brings forth a potential economic recession. Meanwhile, the index also indicates that, as the Chinese economy develops, social equality has been on a noticeable decline. This book will be of interest to economists, China watchers, and political scientists