ASIA: "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more: Income inequality in emerging Asia is heading toward Latin American levels," The Economist, 11 August 2007, p. 36.
The main cause is no surprise: China. The second great cause is the same the world over: those who get more education get more income.
So the mag asks the right question: So long as poverty falls, does this inequality matter?
As a matter of history, you'd say no, but the concentration geographically is truly worrisome: the rich coast versus the poor interior of China (or the increasingly Blue China versus one that would remain far more open to Red China).
The prescription is exactly what Hu and Wen have preached: harmonizing the rural level of development somewhat with the coastal.
Corruption is a problem, so Hu and Wen and their successors must inevitably decide which evil is worse.
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