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This paper examines the impact of residents’ human capital investment inequality on the urban–rural income gap, using China’s provincial panel data from 1997 to 2013. The results show that, at the national level as well as at the regional level, residents’ overall human capital investment inequality has a positive significant impact on the urban–rural income gap. In addition, the impact of overall human capital investment inequality increased monotonically from the eastern region inward to the western region. In terms of the relative impact of each component of human capital investment inequality on the urban–rural income gap, migration investment inequality appears to have the greatest impact at the national level, whereas health investment inequality has the greatest impact on the urban–rural income gap in the eastern region, and education investment inequality exhibits the greatest impact in the central and western regions. We also investigate the impact of human capital investment inequality on the urban–rural income gap over different periods. The results show that residents’ overall human capital investment inequality had a positive impact on the urban–rural income gap in the period 1997–2008, but the impact rapidly shrunk in 2009–2013. Furthermore, the impact of residents’ health investment inequality on the urban–rural income gap shows a downward trend, and the impact of residents’ education investment inequality trended slightly upward from 1997 to 2008, and then rapidly shrunk in 2009–2013. Finally, the impact of residents’ migration investment inequality was only significant in 1997–2002.

The digital economy is expected to revive the countryside and reduce the current level of urban–rural inequality. Nevertheless, whether rural e-commerce can narrow the urban–rural income gap still requires further analysis. The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether this goal is, in fact, being achieved.

Taobao villages have become the epitome of rural e-commerce development in China. Therefore, this paper matches the data of Taobao villages and the data of prefecture-level cities from 2014 to 2019, and employs a two-way fixed effect model, nonlinear model, instrumental variable model and interactive fixed effects model to explore the impact of rural e-commerce on the urban–rural income gap.

Firstly, the ability of urban residents to share rural e-commerce development is higher than that of rural residents, which actually widens the urban–rural income gap. Secondly, the migration to cities of rural families that have profited from e-commerce, and the return of working-class people to the countryside, are two factors that are contributing to the widening of the urban–rural income gap. Thirdly, the farther the distance from the urban area and the higher the spatial agglomeration of the rural e-commerce cluster is, the weaker the impact on widening the urban–rural income gap will be. Finally, while industrial-led rural e-commerce is responsible for widening the urban–rural income gap, agricultural-led rural e-commerce has no significant impact on the urban–rural income gap.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to analyze the impact of rural e-commerce on the urban–rural income gap from the perspective of the coverage of Taobao villages. This empirical study will enrich existing theoretical perspectives on urban–rural integration under the backdrop of the digital economy.

This paper aims to test the causal relationship between urban-biased policy and urban-rural income gap and further examine the moderating role of government intervention.

Based on the provincial Government Work Reports and the long-term policy practice of implementing the target responsibility system, the authors construct a unique indicator of urban-biased policy in China. Further, applying the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces in 2003–2018, the authors explore the causal relationship between urban-biased policy and urban-rural income gap.

The results show that urban-biased policy has contributed to the widen urban-rural income gap in China, which supports Lipton's urban-biased hypothesis. Further research shows that the stronger the government intervention, the bigger the role of urban-biased policy in widening urban-rural income gap.

On the one hand, this study not only investigates the direct effect of urban-biased policy on urban-rural income gap, but also examines the moderating effect from the perspective of government intervention, which helps to enrich the relevant studies of urban-biased theory. On the other hand, the authors' findings provide the latest empirical evidence for urban-biased policy to widen urban-rural income gap and presents a reference and warning for China and other developing countries about balancing the relationship between equity and efficiency during economic development.

Development of urban-rural integration is essential to fulfill sustainable development goals worldwide, and comprehension about urban-rural integration types has been highlighted as increasingly relevant for an efficient policy design. This paper aims to utilize an unsupervised machine learning approach to identify urban-rural integration typologies based on multidimensional metrics regarding economic, population and social integration in China.

The study introduces partitioning around medoids (PAM) for the identification of urban-rural integration typologies. PAM is a powerful tool for clustering multidimensional data. It identifies clusters by the representative objects called medoids and can be used with arbitrary distance, which help make clustering results more stable and less susceptible to outliers.

The study identifies four clusters: high-level urban-rural integration, urban-rural integration in transition, low-level urban-rural integration and early urban-rural integration in backward stage, showing different characteristics. Based on the clustering results, the study finds continuous improvement in urban-rural integration development in China which is reflected by the changes in the predominate type. However, the development still presents significant regional disparities which is characterized by leading in the east regions and lagging in the western and central regions. Besides, achievement in urban-rural integration varies significantly across provinces.

The machine learning techniques could identify urban-rural integration typologies in a multidimensional and objective way, and help formulate and implement targeted strategies and regionally adapted policies to boost urban-rural integration.

This is the first paper to use an unsupervised machine learning approach with PAM for the identification of urban-rural integration typologies from a multidimensional perspective. The authors confirm the advantages of this machine learning techniques in identifying urban-rural integration types, compared to a single indicator.

Challenges from the urban–rural disparity immensely burden the world's progress fulfilling Sustainable Development Goals and the goals' central promise, particularly for developing countries experiencing rapid structural change and urbanization. A knowledge gap lies between the epistemology of urban–rural disparity and the practice of integrated urban-rural development. This paper aims to provide a new approach to bridge the knowledge gap based on the recent Chinese experience.

This qualitative research reviewed major economic and multidisciplinary studies regarding urban-rural development and the growth-equality tradeoff. Chinese experience is employed to showcase concrete challenges from the urban–rural disparity and how the proposed approach works for urban-rural integration.

Theoretical and practical approaches with urban bias largely fail to counter the challenges. Building on China's recent practice probing beyond urban bias, IFPRI (2019) proposes the term rurbanomics with a highlight of equalized urban-rural economic partnership, whereafter Zhou and Chen (2021) enrich the term into a conceptual framework. This paper further improves rurbanomics as a new viable approach to integrated urban-rural development under the overarching goal of common prosperity. The approach prioritizes driving forces in the economic, demographic, eco-environmental, social institutional and technological aspects for the policy community to leverage. Long-term mechanisms are decerned to link urban-rural integration to common prosperity.

China has leveraged ingredients of the rurbanomics approach in the political deployment to integrated urban-rural development. However, the application of this approach is yet to be adapted with local heterogeneities and live up to application's potential. Long-term mechanisms recommended by the rurbanomics approach will need to be carried out. Future improvements will need substantial theoretical extension and micro-level empirical studies.

This paper streamlines the epistemological shreds regarding pursuits, challenges, global experiences and theoretical approaches of urban-rural development. The paper also develops rurbanomics to navigate urban-rural integration, Sustainable Development Goals and common prosperity. By decerning long-term mechanisms in the Chinese case accordingly, this paper provides clues for other economies to employ the new approach.

Since 1978, China has made tremendous economic achievements through industrial upgrading. However, these achievements are accompanied by an expanding income gap between rural and urban areas. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between industrial structure and urban–rural income inequality in China.

Using the fixed-effects model and provincial data for the period 1985–2019, this paper estimates a linear relationship between industrial structure and urban–rural income inequality. By decomposing total income inequality into four components, the paper then analyzes how industrial structure affects each component.

The results show that industrial structure imbalance and industrial upgrading are positively associated with urban–rural income inequality. The positive effect of industrial imbalance mainly comes from widening the wage gap, while that of industrial upgrading mainly comes from aggravating business income inequality and property income inequality. Moreover, industrial balance and upgrading are conducive to increasing the share of wage income at the cost of property income.

By progressively examining the total inequality and the inequality of income components, this paper provides a better understanding of how industrial structure affects urban and rural income inequality. The findings of this study highlight the “inequality cost” associated with industrial structure adjustment, which provide policy-related insights on the balance development of urban and rural areas.

Urban‐rural interaction in China has evolved over time and presented features in different periods since 1949. The aim of this paper is to measure urban‐rural interaction in China in a 50‐year period from 1958 to 2007, and to see if it bears resemblance to the historical evolution.

The paper historically reviews urban‐rural interaction in four periods after 1949. Then, it uses principal component analysis (PCA) and assesses this interaction in the study period.

The quantification of urban‐rural interaction bears resemblances to its historical evolution. Reform and opening‐up as well as the rural‐favored policies contribute a lot to the increase of urban‐rural interaction.

The paper systematically reviews the evolution of urban‐rural interaction in China, and analyzes the features of this interaction in different periods since 1949. It introduces PCA and measures urban‐rural interaction.

Taking 30 provincial samples from 2001 to 2017 in mainland China as the research objects, this paper aims to evaluate the impact and effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the urban–rural income gap and reveals heterogeneity across regions.

Firstly, the Theil index is used to measure the income gap between 30 provinces in mainland China from 2001 to 2017, then the spatial econometric model is used to empirically test the impact of foreign direct investment on China’s urban–rural income gap and its heterogeneity across regions. Finally, a robustness test is performed.

The results show that there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between FDI and the urban–rural income gap in China. That is, FDI expands the urban–rural income gap in the short term and helps to converge it in the long term. In the eastern region, FDI has a convergence effect on the urban–rural income gap in the short term, which increases the long term. However, in the central and western regions, the relationship between FDI and urban–rural income gap has a weak inverted U shape.

By assessing the impact of FDI on the urban–rural income gap, this work provides decision-making support for China and other developing countries to improve investment policies and income distribution policies.

The purpose of this study is to elaborate the theoretical mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap from the perspective of labor transfer, and use a dynamic panel mediation model to test the transmission mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer, so as to provide an empirical basis for narrowing the urban–rural income gap in China.

This paper constructs a mechanism analysis framework for rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap. From the perspective of resource allocation and labor transfer, the authors expound the transmission path of rural credit input to the urban–rural income gap and analyze the theoretical mechanism of rural credit input that affects the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer. Based on this, this paper uses the dynamic panel mediation model to test the effect relationship between rural credit input, labor transfer and urban–rural income gap in 31 provinces of China from 2009 to 2018.

In theory, increasing rural credit input can ease the financial constraints on the development of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” and provide capital accumulation for the development of rural non-agricultural industries. The development of rural non-agricultural industries can provide more jobs for rural surplus labor, thereby increasing the labor rate of return in rural areas, and ultimately conducive to narrowing the urban–rural income gap. Further, increasing rural credit input can improve the development level of rural non-agricultural industries, thereby promoting the transfer of agricultural labor. At the same time, rural credit input based on the intermediary variable of labor transfer has a significant inhibitory effect on the urban–rural income gap.

This study mainly focuses on the relationship between rural credit input, labor transfer and urban–rural income gap, so it is impossible to use micro-level data to further verify the impact of rural credit input on labor transfer. At the same time, the collection of indicators of rural credit investment in the China Financial Yearbook only started in 2009, which limited the number of samples to a certain extent.

This paper assumes that the economy is mainly composed of urban and rural economic sectors. Therefore, labor can flow freely between urban and rural areas. However, in the near future, China's rural secondary and tertiary industries may develop rapidly, especially with the in-depth implementation of rural revitalization strategy, it is very important to pay attention to the current situation of rural industrial structure and incorporate the factors such as rural industrial structure into the existing model.

This study attempts to provide a new perspective and inspiration for rural credit input, the optimal allocation of labor force and narrowing the urban–rural income gap under China's rural revitalization strategy.

Based on the analysis framework of neoclassical economic theory, this paper uses the constant elasticity of substitution production function to establish an urban–rural two-sector nested model that includes credit supply variables and analyzes the mechanism of rural credit input affecting the urban–rural income gap through labor transfer.

In the 69 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, especially the 40 years since the reform and opening-up, the relationship between urban and rural areas has undergone profound change. When the deepening reform of the urban-rural relationship is entering a critical period, it is necessary to reassess the evolution of the urban-rural relationship in China and draw a picture for that relationship in the future. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper combs the policies on the urban and rural development since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and analyzes macro data on the industries, population, personal income, and other aspects.

The study found that this urbanism affects individuals’ lives and the choices of society through the will of the state, and then provides feedback at the whole level of social values.

This paper divides the evolution of China’s urban-rural relationship into two major stages – nurturing cities with rural areas and leading rural areas with cities, which are then subdivided into five periods. The features of the relationship between the urban and rural areas in different periods are analyzed, and the future development of urban-rural relations is also considered.