Ethnic Autonomous Policy and Ethnic Inequality in China: An Evaluation

China’s 55 ethnic minorities constitute about 9 percent of the national population, and most are concentrated in remote areas and disadvantaged in social and economic development compared to the Han majority. To promote ethnic inequality, Chinese government has instituted the ethnic autonomous jurisdictions at different levels: 5 autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous counties/banners, covering 71 percent of ethnic minorities and 64 percent of the territory as of 2005. This paper aims to employ China’s census (from 1982 to 2010) and the mini-census data in 2005 to evaluate the effectiveness of such a policy on ethnic disparities in educational, occupational attainment and income. Specifically, we will employ the causal inference methods to investigate the experience of ethnic minority (relative to Han) living under their own autonomous jurisdiction and their counterparts otherwise. The findings will have important implications for China’s policy towards ethnic minorities.