In today's podcast, new figures show that inequality of incomes dropped slightly in 2014, according to China's official statistics bureau.The commonly used Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, has lowered to 0.469,a figure which still paints a picture of a gap that could have large social consequences.Zero on the index represents complete equality of income, while the figure of one stands for total inequality.While last year's dip was an improvement from the 2013 figure of 0.473,the "red line" of 0.40 is considered by some international academics to be the limit for a predictor of social instability.The National Bureau of Statistics said the development coincided with policies to address the gap between urban residents and rural farmers.But some experts have cited peculiarities in official poverty measurements, given disproportionate and inaccurate representation by high-income families.Critics say that there is a high likelihood of reporting flaws by the ultra-wealthy both in terms of income sources and amount.Between the years of 2004 to 2012, the NBS stopped releasing the Gini coefficient altogether,but then stirred controversy when it released the previous decade's figures in 2013.In December 2012, a study by the Southwest University of Finance and Economics estimated China's national Gini coefficient that year to be 0.61.For Caixin Online, this is Diana Bates.
