Kishore Mahubani and Jeffery Sng (Eds), The ASEAN Miracle: A Catalyst for Peace

wage gap between enterprises. The last chapter of the book, Chapter 14, explores the sources of income inequality in rural China from 1994 to 2014. This study explains how rural dual structural transformation leads to an inverted-U curve after the 1980s. The rural duality declined gradually with the expansion of nonagricultural employment and income in Tianjin unlike Shandonh or other parts of China. In contrast, in most rural areas of China and Shandong, despite residents’ choice to work in township enterprises or to be migrant workers, their nonagricultural income contributes to improving the level of total income and bags inequality. The dual transformation will affect and change the sectoral labour force participation rate and the within-sector income inequality, which further influences the income inequality to go up or down. Rising inequality in income itself is not the only dimension of development, but it also has consequences for governments’ efforts to control poverty, sustain growth, and maintain social cohesion. Therefore, appropriate policy measures are the only treatment. This book has covered the current inequality scenario in Asia as a whole and also gives country case studies to understand the differentials and determinants of the rising inequality. It has data, measures, and recommendations to initiate appropriate policy, which can create equality of opportunity, equal access to public goods and services, and improve the quality of institutions and governance, which is very much needed across the region in the context of social cohesion. The book has highlighted that rising inequality exists due to unequal distribution of resource endowments, public infrastructure, and economic activities, and major reform is needed in the rural, education, and employment sectors to prevent this inequality from rising. It can be hoped that this volume will inform and initiate intense policy debates for tackling the challenges of rising inequality in Asia.