Income of the urban elderly in postreform China: Political capital, human capital, and the state

Using data from a 1992 nationally representative survey of the elderly in u rban China, this study examines the impact of political and economic reform s on income stratification. Drawing upon the existing literature on the dif ferential impact of market reforms in socialist states, we develop and test three hypotheses: one stressing the increasing importance of returns to hu man capital, one stressing the ability of communist elite to convert their political capital into new sources of power in emerging markets, and one st ressing the continued importance of redistributive activities of the parry- state. Our results support, to varying degrees, all three hypotheses. We in terpret this as a reflection of the complex nature of stratification mechan isms during Chinese economic reforms. (C) 2000 Academic Press.