Global value chain participation and income inequality within enterprises: An empirical study based on Chinese-listed companies.

• There is a significant non-linear inverted U-shaped relationship between global value chain participation and wage inequality. • Compared to state-owned enterprises, global value chain embedding has a more significant impact on income inequality within non-state-owned enterprises. • The inverted U-shaped effect of global value chain embedding on internal income inequality is significant in large companies, but has no significant impact on internal income inequality in small companies. • As the integration of the global value chain deepens, income inequality within companies with lower bargaining power among employees gradually expands; however, income inequality within companies with higher bargaining power among employees first increases and then decreases. • The embedding of global value chains has an inverted U-shaped impact on internal income inequality through the widening rental sharing effect of internal income disparities and the skill enhancement effect of narrowing internal income disparities. In the debate about the causes of inequality, a growing strand of research focuses on the effects of globalization on income inequality. This study focuses on Chinese-listed companies from 2000–2016, examining the influence of GVC participation on intra-firm wage disparities. It finds a significant, non-linear inverted U-shaped relationship between GVC participation and wage inequality, which remains robust across various empirical specifications. The results also show that global value chain embedding has a more significant impact on income inequality within non-state-owned enterprises, larger enterprises, and enterprises with higher bargaining power among employees. This finding is qualitatively robust across various different empirical specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]