LAUSR

ABSTRACT Economic segregation in urban areas is important to scholars and policymakers because it is thought to exacerbate inequality in social outcomes such as education, social capital formation, and employment. A growing body of comparative work examines factors associated with higher levels of urban segregation within different countries. Increasingly, this work examines differences between levels of segregation across the income distribution rather than just one measure of segregation per city. China has high levels of income inequality and has undergone a dynamic process of urbanization in recent decades as it transitions from a centrally planned system to one in which markets allocate goods. Using census data from the 20 largest cities in China, we measure the level of economic segregation and examine its determinants. Chinese cities are highly segregated. Segregation levels tend to be higher in larger and richer cities and more pronounced among renters. There is a stronger link between segregation based on housing type and expenditure than between migrant status and expenditures, which leads us to speculate that the pace, timing, and scale of housing development are the dominant drivers of economic segregation.