Dr. Aimin Chen This is Me

 View all 16 references Web References

1. 1. The Chinese Economist Society

   www.china-ces.org/ces_conferen - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/24/2005   Last Visited: 1/27/2008

   Aimin Chen, Professor at Indiana State University and vice President, Sichuan University

2. 2. Building Russia's Housing Market

   www.cipe.org/publications/fs/e - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/2/2006   Last Visited: 8/2/2006

   According to Aimin Chen of Indiana State University, China's housing system functions,barely,by collecting an implicit income tax from workers, whose wages are kept artificially low.
   ...
   According to Dr. Chen, "China's enterprises cannot be successfully restructured without getting rid of the burden of low-rent public housing."

3. 3. Technical Paper

   www.cipe.org/ert/e22/strE22.ph - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/16/2002   Last Visited: 8/16/2002

   According to Aimin Chen of Indiana State University, China's housing system functions-barely-by collecting an implicit income tax from workers, whose wages are kept artificially low. These revenues are used to subsidize housing, food, medical care, and other social goods. While spending on housing comprised just 0.7% of the average urban household's expenditures in 1990, the same figure shoots to 29% if subsidies are included in the calculation. The results of this arrangement include severe housing shortages, cronyism in housing distribution, and reluctance among workers to change jobs for fear of losing their housing.
   
   A decade of tentative reform has allowed a small private housing market to emerge, but it is far too expensive for the vast majority of Chinese. More important has been the government's partial withdrawal from housing construction, which it dominated until the late 1970s. Today, although state enterprises continue to account for over half of all housing construction, spending by households and collectives is increasingly important.
   
   As in Russia, China's state enterprises have been whipsawed by the obligation to maintain the housing they own while charging absurdly low rents. According to Dr. Chen, "China's enterprises cannot be successfully restructured without getting rid of the burden of low-rent public housing." Rents on public housing have been rising in many jurisdictions, but they still fail to reflect the true costs of providing housing. Only when rents reflect supply and demand will badly needed investment be committed to China's housing sector. To allow that to happen, China will have to consider ending implicit subsidies, privatizing the housing sector, and letting market forces set rents.
   
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