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Visiting economist examines inequality in China

Nov. 1, 2010

KALAMAZOO--Economic disparity in China will get a closer look when a visiting scholar comes to Western Michigan University to share her views at the next presentation in the Werner Sichel Lecture Series.

Dr. Terry Sicular, professor and undergraduate director for the Department of Economics at the University of Western Ontario, will speak on "Inequality in China: Challenges to a Harmonious Society" from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10, in Room 2028 of Brown Hall.

Sicular earned her doctoral degree at Yale University and has taught at Stanford and Harvard. She is a specialist on the Chinese economy, speaks fluent Mandarin and has been researching and traveling to China for more than 30 years.

Her research in the past has focused on China's rural economy, especially topics related to agricultural prices and market reforms. More recently, she has studied incomes and inequality in China, as well as questions regarding educational attainment and transmission, and the impact of housing reforms on household income and wealth.

She has published widely in scholarly journals and books, including as a contributor and co-editor of "Inequality and Public Policy," published by Cambridge University Press in 2008, and "The Urban-Rural Income Gap and Inequality in China" in 2008.

Sicular has served as a consultant to international donor organizations and is a co-leader in the ongoing China Household Income Project, a collaborative research project that conducts a nationwide household survey and monitors trends in China's incomes and inequality.

The Sichel Series is organized by the WMU Department of Economics and named in honor of longtime WMU economics professor Dr. Werner Sichel, who retired in 2004. Now in its 47th year, the speaker series brings highly regarded economists to the area to discuss timely and important economic issues. The theme of this year's series is "Dragon vs. Eagle: The Chinese Economy and U.S.-China Economic Relations."

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Media contact: Mark Schwerin, (269) 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu

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