Abstract: Combining Chortareas & Kapetanios’sequence Panel Selection Method (2009) and KSS Fourier unit root test, this paper investigates the stability of urban-rural sports consumption gap in the 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China from 1978 to 2012. As compared with the traditional linear tests, the nonlinear Fourier function is more powerful in testing nonlinear temporal sequence with structural breaks. The empirical results show that the sports consumption gap in Shanghai, Hainan, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Guizhou provinces presents nonlinear convergence, meaning that the urban-rural dual structure mode in these regions has gradually disappeared. While the sports consumption gap in the rest 25 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) exhibits nonlinear properties, indicating that the urban-rural differentiation in these regions is still obvious and it cannot be eliminated solely through market regulation.

Key words: Urban-rural Sports Consumption Gap, Structural Breaks, Nonlinearity, SPSM