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The "welfare-to-work" program is a comprehensive supportive policy in the 14th five-year plan period in China. In this paper, a systematical assessment of the long-run effectiveness of the welfare-to-work policy on poverty reduction is of great significance to stimulate the internal impetus of people who are lifted out of poverty to achieve income growth and prosperity and promote regional economic development. Based on the data at the county (city) level in China from 2000 to 2019 and the sustainable development theory, in this paper, a county-relative poverty evaluation system was constructed. Besides, the double difference method was employed to evaluate the effect of the welfare-to-work policy on poverty reduction and test its action mechanism. The findings are as follows: (1) the welfare-to-work policy has a significant poverty reduction effect and presents an inverted "U" shape. In addition, significant achievements have been made in "maintaining employment stability, ensuring income, strengthening skills, and supporting the economy" ; (2) the welfare-to-work policy boosts poverty reduction in counties through infrastructure construction, fiscal intervention, and financial tools; however, the financial tools play a positive role in poverty reduction in the northwest region and suppressed role in the southwest region, and has an insignificant effect in the central region; and (3) there are differences in the effect of poverty alleviation policies of the counties with different sustainable development levels, and the regions with higher development level have a stronger driving effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has resolved its overall regional poverty in 2020 by attaining moderate societal prosperity. The country has entered a new development stage designed to achieve its second centenary goal. However, ecological fragility and risk susceptibility have increased the risk of returning to ecological poverty. In this paper, the Liupan Mountain Region of China was used as a case study, and the counties were used as the scale to reveal the spatiotempora differentiation and influcing factors of the risk of returning to poverty in study area. The indicator data for returning to ecological poverty from 2011–2020 were collected and summarized in three dimensions: ecological, economic and social. The autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) time series and exponential smoothing method (ES) were used to predict the multidimensional indicators of returning to ecological poverty for 61 counties (districts) in the Liupan Mountain Region for 2021–2030. The back propagation neural network (BPNN) and geographic information system (GIS) were used to generate the spatial distribution and time variation for the index of the risk of returning to ecological poverty (RREP index). The results show that 1) ecological factors were the main factors in the risk of returning to ecological poverty in Liupan Mountain Region. 2) The RREP index for the 61 counties (districts) exhibited a downward trend from 2021–2030. The RREP index declined more in medium- and high-risk areas than in low-risk areas. From 2021 to 2025, the RREP index exhibited a slight downward trend. From 2026 to 2030, the RREP index was expected to decline faster, especially from 2029–2030. 3) Based on the RREP index, it can be roughly divided into three types, namely, the high-risk areas, the medium-risk areas, and the low-risk areas. The natural resource conditions in low-risk areas of returning to ecological poverty, were better than those in medium- and high-risk areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eliminating poverty is a shared aspiration of people worldwide. This article analyzes 762 rural poverty-related texts promulgated and implemented by the Chinese Government since 1984 using content analysis based on a three-dimensional framework encompassing the time of policy issuance, policy goals, and types of policy instruments. The study outlines the overall landscape and evolutionary context of the policy system. The results show that, during absolute poverty governance, China's rural poverty governance can be broadly divided into three stages: regional development-oriented poverty alleviation, comprehensive poverty alleviation, and targeted poverty alleviation. Based on the production-oriented welfare model, economic development became the primary goal of poverty alleviation policies, while insufficient attention was given to service support and capacity-building goals. The alleviation of poverty mainly relied on the propulsive force generated by supply-side policy instruments led by the Government and the external driving force generated by environmental policy instruments, with a significant deficiency in the propulsive force produced by demand-side policy instruments. Entering the phase of relative poverty governance, optimizing poverty governance policy instruments requires breaking free from path dependence, following the evolutionary pattern of poverty governance. It involves ensuring that policy instruments support economic development while emphasizing addressing service support and capacity-building goals. It is crucial to increase the frequency of using demand-side policy instruments, stimulate their pulling force on poverty alleviation, and achieve a trend of evolutionary innovation and the collaborative governance of policy instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing evidence exists about the candidate factors of childhood cognitive performance, but mainly limited to single-exposure studies. We sought to systematically and simultaneously identify and validate a wide range of potential modifiable factors for childhood cognitive performance. We used data from five waves of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS-2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018). Our analytical sample was restricted to those children aged 2–5 at baseline with valid exposure information. A total of 80 modifiable factors were identified. Childhood cognitive performance was assessed using vocabulary and mathematics test at wave 5. We used an environment-wide association study (EnWAS) to screen all exposure-outcome associations independently and used the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) variable selection algorithm to identify factors associated with cognitive performance. Multivariable linear model was then used to evaluate causal relationships between identified factors and cognitive performance. Of the 1305 participants included in the study (mean ± SD, 3.5 ± 1.1 years age at baseline, 45.1% girls). Eight factors were retained in the LASSO regression analysis. Six factors across community characteristics (percentage of poverty in the community; percentage of children in the community), household characteristics (family size), child health and behaviors (mobile internet access), parenting behaviors and cognitive enrichment (parental involvement in child' s education), and parental wellbeing (paternal happiness) domains were significantly associated with childhood cognition. Using a three-stage approach, this study validates several actionable targets for improving childhood cognitive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health shocks or risks related to household energy consumption (HEC) are one of the most serious health threats worldwide. Based on the 2018 China Health and Nutrition Survey Database (CHNS), this study empirically quantified the linear and nonlinear relationships between energy consumption, health, poverty, and living environment quality at the household level, using regression and instrumental variable models. Results showed that increased HEC reduced self-reported health shock by 64.0%. The low-income household exhibited the most serious health shock, while the high-income household revealed the least serious health shock related to household energy use. In terms of increased energy consumption, the negative impact on poor household's health shock was twice that on the non-poor household. The increased energy consumption significantly reduced the risk of critical illness. Due to their U-shaped relationship, an income level-related threshold existed such that the benefit or risk gap between the different incomes closed when the income rose to the middle level. The poor and middle-income households had higher health benefits than the non-poor and high-income households owing to cleaner energy and lower health risk. This study proposes that inequality in basic energy consumption is one of the important determinants of health benefits/costs. We should pay attention to the importance of energy poverty alleviation policy and promote the progress of household energy structure to reduce health shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social network is an important way to promote subjective poverty alleviation. Based on China Labor Dynamics Survey (CLDS) data from 2014, 2016, and 2018, this paper analyzes the action mechanism of social networks on the subjective poverty of Chinese residents. The results find that social network acts on subjective poverty through social support and reference groups. Specifically, social networks provide emotional and instrumental social support for individuals, which can effectively alleviate subjective poverty. In addition, when the social network members serve as the reference group, the higher the status of individuals in the network, the weaker the subjective poverty. Secondly, objective poverty is the mediating path between the social support function of social networks and subjective poverty. Finally, objective poverty is a regulator of the effect of social networks as a reference group on subjective poverty. When individuals are objectively poor, the alleviating effect of social networks as a reference group on subjective poverty is weakened. In summary, placing social networks' social support and reference group functions under the same framework helps fully grasp social networks' social benefits. As a result, consolidating China's poverty reduction achievements and focusing on the informal social insurance role of social networks are conducive to alleviating subjective poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eliminating poverty and improving welfare are the value pursuit of global development. Based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities in China from 2010 to 2020, the path relationship among urban shrinkage, urban–rural development, and residents' welfare growth is empirically tested. The heterogeneity of urban shrinkage affecting residents' welfare are further revealed from multidimensional perspectives such as public financial pressure, attention to ageing cause, provincial capital welfare spillover, land expansion, and geographic differences. The research shows that: (1) Urban shrinkage not only directly inhibit residents' welfare, but also curb the improvement of residents' welfare through widening urban–rural income gap and strengthening urban–rural dual economic structure. (2) The higher the public financial pressure and the attention to the aging cause, the more obvious the inhibitory effect of urban shrinkage on the welfare. The welfare spillover of provincial capital cities show a distinct characteristics of distance attenuation. (3) The inhibitory effect of urban shrinkage on welfare growth is stronger in cities with a higher degree of land expansion. The inhibitory effect of the widening urban–rural income gap on welfare growth presents a V-shaped trend with land expansion. (4) The overall impact of urban shrinkage, urban–rural income gap, and urban–rural dual economic structure on residents' welfare is negative, and the spatiotemporal heterogeneity is significant. The impact of urban shrinkage on residents' welfare in seven cities of Hebei and Shandong province is at the stage of turning from negative to positive during the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research attention is increasingly directed towards the effective integration of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the limitations of the real world and amidst intersectoral conflicts. In light of the inextricable relationship between irrigation and energy, the objective of this study is to identify potential avenues for achieving the SDG6 and SDG7 goals of enhancing water use efficiency in agriculture and eradicating energy poverty, respectively. Utilizing data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2017, this study explores the dynamic influence of energy poverty on agricultural water efficiency with a system generalized method of moments methodology. The findings suggest that energy poverty may greatly reduce agricultural water efficiency. The heterogeneity study shows that when agricultural water efficiency grows, the negative impacts of energy poverty continue to fade. Based on an assessment of various processes, results suggest that non-farm employment and cropping structure modification is a prominent conduit via which energy poverty negatively influences agricultural water efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive finance has the potential to impact CO2 emissions resulting from energy activities by influencing regional economic behavior. To explore this relationship, this research makes use of panel data covering 30 Chinese provinces between 2004 and 2017. Through the utilization of empirical methods, including the dynamic panel model, the DIFF-GMM model, the mediating effect model, and the moderating effect model, the study examines the direction and mechanisms of the influence of financial inclusion on various aspects of CO2 emissions in China. The findings demonstrate that the development of inclusive finance has a significant effect on CO2 emissions, characterized by an energy rebound effect. This effect is primarily observed through notable increases in total CO2 emissions and per capita CO2 emissions, coupled with a reduction in CO2 emission efficiency. Additionally, inclusive finance exhibits a certain capacity to mitigate CO2 emissions by addressing energy poverty. However, this mitigating effect falls short of fully offsetting the CO2 emissions resulting from the overall economic impact of inclusive finance. Moreover, the study reveals that market regulation weakens the positive relationship between financial inclusion and CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the impact of financial inclusion on CO2 emissions exhibits a spatial spillover effect, wherein it serves to inhibit CO2 emissions in neighboring regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon transition stands as a vital strategy for the global community to address the challenge of climate change, inevitably affecting residents' daily lives. However, there is a notable gap in the quantitative analysis of the low-carbon transition's impact on energy poverty in developing countries, limiting policymakers' understanding of the inherent mechanism and their ability to take informed actions. This study investigates the low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy, China's key low-carbon initiative, as a quasi-natural experiment, using the difference-in-differences (DID) method to examine its impact on residents' energy poverty conditions. Utilizing panel data from 4807 households in the CHARLS dataset, this study effectively integrated household-level and city-level data. Benchmark regression indicates that the LCCP policy exacerbates energy poverty among residents. Further analysis reveals the pivotal role of energy infrastructure and expenditure in bridging the nexus between the LCCP policy and energy poverty, providing crucial insights into the potential pathways through which this policy impacts energy poverty. Additionally, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impacts of LCCP policy are more pronounced in eastern cities, non-resource cities, and high administrative-level cities, as well as in the communities suffering from subpar governance quality. By leveraging reliable survey data and robust quantitative methods, this study not only broadens the methodology of energy poverty studies but also offers valuable insights for developing countries to safeguard residents' energy welfare amid low-carbon transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While earthquakes are considered one of the most prevalent natural disasters in China, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the long-term effects of earthquakes on energy poverty. Using data from China Family Panel Studies and China's historical earthquake catalog, this study investigates the long-term effects of earthquake intensity on energy poverty among households in China, and analyzes the long-term effects over different time spans. Our findings indicate that, higher earthquake intensities have an overall worsening long-term impact on energy poverty. When segmented into different time spans, households in regions with higher earthquake intensities are less likely to fall into energy poverty over the past 20 years and the past 20 to 50 years, whereas more likely to be energy poor over the longer time span. Moreover, we uncover that public infrastructure, government assistance, and mental well-being serve as channels through which earthquakes affect household energy poverty, with divergent effects over different time spans. In addition, we observe nonlinear evidence of earthquake intensity's long-term impact on energy poverty, and the long-term impacts are heterogeneous across different regions, as well as households with different registration statuses and household fuel types. These insights can inform policy interventions aimed at alleviating long-term energy poverty in areas affected by natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural technology adoption is an important way to improve agricultural technology and production efficiency and promote agricultural modernization. However, the low willingness to adopt agricultural technologies has been a challenge in China. Cognitive load may affect smallholder farmers' decision to adopt new technologies. Using an experimental economics approach, we examine the effect of cognitive load on smallholder farmers' willingness to adopt technology from a cognitive perspective based on a field experiment with 440 smallholder farmers in Shaanxi Province, China, in 2021 and 2022. The experimental results show that cognitive load has a significant negative effect on farmers' willingness to adopt technology, and the higher the level of cognitive load, the lower the farmers' willingness to adopt the technology. From the mechanism of action, cognitive load influences smallholder farmers' technology adoption intention by consuming their attention. In addition, cognitive ability, technology training, and government subsidies had heterogeneous effects on cognitive load affecting farmers' willingness to adopt new technologies, i.e., the cognitive load had less inhibitory effects on technology adoption willingness of smallholder farmers who has the high cognitive ability, participated in technology training and received government subsidies. Therefore, in the context of rural revitalization, the Chinese government should pay attention to the influence of farmers' cognitive mechanism on their willingness to adopt agricultural technologies, improve their cognitive ability, provide more technical training guidance, and provide targeted subsidies, to guide farmers to actively adopt new technologies and get rid of the "poverty trap". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transfer payments play a crucial role in combating poverty in countries. However, the effectiveness of transfer payments in alleviating poverty remains controversial due to variations in environmental factors, economic development, and cultural contexts across different nations. In this study, we employ counterfactual causal inference to examine the influence of government transfer payments on poverty. By utilizing data from China, we present new evidence that sheds light on related issues. Our findings reveal that transfer payments have a negative impact on the overall income of rural poor households. This can be attributed to a decrease in labor supply among rural poor residents who receive such payments, resulting in reduced wage income. Additionally, transfer payments lead to decreased expenditure on food and increased spending on healthcare. These changes in total income and consumption patterns indicate that China's current transfer payment policy has short-term efficacy by meeting the basic living security needs of rural poor residents and improving their health conditions. However, the lack of significant changes in education spending suggests that transfer payments have little long-term effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household income predicts early adolescents' cognitive development. However, the mechanism underlying this association and protective factors are unclear. This study assessed one-year longitudinal data to examine whether perceived discrimination mediated the association between household income and executive function and the moderating role of shift-and-persist. 344 early adolescents in rural China were included in the study (mean = 10.88 years, SD = 1.32 years, girls: 51.74%). The latent variable model revealed that household income predicted early adolescents' cognitive flexibility and working memory in the subsequent year through perceived discrimination. Shift-and-persist moderated the negative effects of perceived discrimination on cognitive flexibility: perceived discrimination impeded cognitive flexibility only among early adolescents with low shift-and-persist. The findings highlight perceived discrimination in the relation between household income and early adolescents' executive function and underscore the protective role of shift-and-persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governing relative poverty is an indispensable part of achieving inclusive growth. Using data from the China Household Financial Survey, we scientifically investigate the impact of China's development of digital financial inclusion on household vulnerability to relative poverty. The research results show that the development of digital financial inclusion can significantly alleviate the vulnerability to relative poverty of households, and effectively prevent families from falling into a state of relative poverty in the future. The results of the heterogeneity analysis show that the effect of digital financial inclusion in mitigating vulnerability to relative poverty is greater in households with high population dependency ratios, digital tools, and household head education levels. In parallel, there are also significant regional differences in digital finance in mitigating the relative vulnerability of households. Further mechanism research found that the development of digital finance inclusion mainly reduces the probability of families falling into relative poverty in the future by alleviating income inequality, thereby improving the health status of family members, family development-oriented consumption, and family happiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Realizing green economic recovery and eradicating energy poverty have become China's strategic priorities in the post-COVID-19 era. In the context of the active advocacy of green finance, to empirically investigate whether green finance can help eradicate energy poverty, this study utilizes provincial sample data to explore the energy poverty eradication effect of green finance. Our study also examines the regional heterogeneity and mediating effect. The main findings are as follows: (1) Green finance is a powerful weapon to alleviate China's energy poverty and accelerate green economic recovery, indicating that the green evolution of financial institutions is effective means to facilitate green economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 era; (2) green finance only eradicates energy poverty in low energy poverty regions and the eastern areas, and green finance can alleviate energy poverty in both high and low green finance areas; and (3) improved green finance not only directly eradicates China's energy poverty, but also alleviates current energy poverty by accelerating technical innovation and optimizing the industrial structure. Following the above main findings, this study advances a series of policy implications in terms of facilitating the green transition of the financial industry and realizing green economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty remains a significant global challenge, despite ongoing efforts throughout history to address it. China's fight against poverty, as part of global poverty governance efforts, has yielded valuable insights and examples for anti-poverty strategies, propelling changes within the global poverty governance system. This paper conducts a review of post-1978 anti-poverty research covering China's ethnic minority regions, roughly dividing the research history into three distinct phases: 1978–2012, 2013–2020, and post-2020. The research findings at each stage are summarized in terms of research topics, perspectives, and paradigms. Based on these findings, the paper provides a forward-looking outlook on future research into anti-poverty efforts in China's ethnic minority regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ending poverty in all its forms is the first of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Therefore, it is of great significance to study poverty in the context of sustainable development. After eradicating absolute poverty, constructing a long-term mechanism to solve relative poverty is an inevitable requirement for achieving common prosperity in China. Therefore, it is extremely important that relative poverty is accurately identified and quantitatively decomposed. This paper adjusts the Foster–Greer–Thorbecke poverty index to propose a new methodology for relative poverty decomposition comprising growth, dispersion, heterogeneity, and identification effect. Based on China Family Panel Studies data from 2014 to 2018, the empirical analysis reveals the contributions to relative poverty made by growth, dispersion, heterogeneity, and identification effects. Specifically, the growth effect reduces the incidence of relative poverty; dispersion effect worsens relative poverty by affecting the depth of poverty; the heterogeneity effect depends on the heterogeneous characteristics of the population; the identification effect aggregates relative poverty by acting mainly on poverty incidence. We also compare the four relative poverty effects in urban versus rural areas. The findings show that dispersion effect and heterogeneity effect are keys to the differences. In particular, dispersion effect differences arise from income disparities, while heterogeneity effect differences depend on heterogeneous characteristics such as education, health insurance, and migrant work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is often a vicious cycle that occurs in China encompassing ecological vulnerability, low productivity, and poverty. Existing research has not applied multiagent modelling and simulation (MAMS), which is a method suitable for analysing such complex systems. Therefore, the MAMS is here used to explore potential strategies for breaking this cycle. The MAMS method is based on complex adaptive systems and computer programs, and it includes both theoretical and simulation models, which can be used to simulate different scenarios and obtain visualized results. To sample representative poverty-stricken areas in China, the authors designed five breakthrough policy scenarios. The simulation results of these scenarios indicate that increasing the amount of arable land decreases the number of poor people. However, increasing the direct interventions of government does not reduce the number of the poor, nor does it change the Gini coefficient. On the other hand, increasing the number and variety of poverty alleviation opportunities available to the poor leads to a decrease in both the number of poor people and the Gini coefficient. These results of our five scenarios indicate that the optimal policy portfolio could be obtained by increasing the amount of arable land and providing more varied opportunities to help the poor participate in market activities while reducing direct government intervention. The combined design of these policies is conducive to breaking the vicious cycle of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the multidimensional poverty of the migrant workers. This paper also analyzed the migrant worker's household registration differences and multi-period analysis of the migrant workers. China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), a household and social tracking survey data conducted by the Institute of Social Science Survey, was used in this article. Income, health, education, social security, living standards, and urban intergration were considered Multidimensional Poverty. This paper combines the A-F multidimensional poverty method and Foster's duration analysis method to construct a long-term multidimensional poverty index. Our results show that the long-term multidimensional poverty situation of the migrant workers is not severe but is mainly concentrated in certain dimensions and specific indicators. However, the long-term multidimensional poverty of the migrant workers is a persistent problem. Although the situation is gradually improving, the long-term negative impact of multidimensional poverty on individuals is increasingly prominent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After eradicating absolute poverty under the current rural poverty standard (living standard of 2300 RMB per person per year at 2010 constant prices) in 2020, China will enter the post-poverty era, in which the focus of anti-poverty in China will shift to narrowing the gap and pursuing fairness and shared prosperity in relative poverty. Identifying and measuring the scale of the relative poverty group is an essential prerequisite for effective relative poverty management. Based on the reality of China's extensive territory and unbalanced and uncoordinated regional development, this article calculates the relative poverty and the scale of the poor population in each province separately from the provincial perspective and analyzes their changing trends. It is revealed that the average relative poverty line of each province in China is slightly lower than the social poverty line of middle and high-income countries proposed by the World Bank and higher than the low- and middle-income countries, which is basically in line with the current stage of economic development in China. The average relative poverty incidence in each province is at around 25%, and the incidence of poverty generally shows a decreasing trend during the study period, while the depth and intensity of poverty in some provinces show a gradual increase over time, further confirming the enormity of relative poverty governance in the post-poverty era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intergenerational support from children and differences in social security treatment are important factors influencing the occurrence of multidimensional poverty among the elderly in China. Drawing on social support theory, based on the data of the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, this article investigates the effects of different intergenerational support provided by children on multidimensional poverty among the elderly, using a combination of logit regression model and moderating effect model, and identify the role played by social security programs. The study shows that multidimensional poverty among the elderly in China is generally severe, and the structure of poverty is evolving from material to spiritual poverty. The effectiveness of financial and caregiving support in the management of multidimensional poverty among the elderly has diminished and is limited to rights-based poverty, and the effects are in opposite directions. Emotional support assumes an increasingly important role in poverty management and has a significant impact on the alleviation of economic, health, and spiritual poverty as well as overall multidimensional poverty. Social security programmes have significant moderating effects on the relationship between financial support, emotional support and multidimensional poverty among the elderly, and differences in social security programmes can cause changes in the impact of intergenerational support on multidimensional poverty among the elderly. This study has theoretical value and practical implications for building a solid bottom line for a mass return to poverty and improving the current situation of multidimensional poverty among the elderly in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although overeating increases risk for chronic illness and premature mortality, evolutionary life-history theorists posit that such behaviors arise as a potential outcome of using fast life-history strategies to function in environments that are harsh or unpredictable. To test this premise, we examined links between harsh, unpredictable living conditions (HULC), the adoption of fast life-history (LH) strategies, and overeating among early adolescents using a four-wave longitudinal design. Participants were 2547 Chinese adolescents (1202 girls, 1345 boys) who completed baseline questionnaires assessing experiences of HULC, preferences for use of fast LH strategies, and overeating. Measures were re-administered in follow-ups 7, 13, and 20 months later. Analyses indicated HULC predicted increased use of fast LH strategies within each gender. However, fast LH strategy adoption contributed to increases in overeating only among girls. Findings supported specific tenets of life-history theory and underscored gender as an important consideration in understanding links between living conditions, the adoption of fast LH strategies, and risk for overeating. Interventions focused on reducing poverty and increasing stable, nurturing family, and community environments may aid in reducing overeating and obesity for adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of environmental and socioeconomic conditions on the global pandemic of COVID-19 had been widely studied, yet their influence during the early outbreak remains less explored. Unraveling these relationships represents a key knowledge to prevent potential outbreaks of similar pathogens in the future. This study aims to determine the influence of socioeconomic, infrastructure, air pollution, and weather variables on the relative risk of infection in the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. A spatio-temporal Bayesian zero-inflated Poisson model is used to test for the effect of 13 socioeconomic, urban infrastructure, air pollution, and weather variables on the relative risk of COVID-19 disease in 122 cities of China. The results show that socioeconomic and urban infrastructure variables did not have a significant effect on the relative risk of COVID-19. Meanwhile, COVID-19 relative risk was negatively associated with temperature, wind speed, and carbon monoxide, while nitrous dioxide and the human modification index presented a positive effect. Pollution gases presented a marked variability during the study period, showing a decrease of CO. These findings suggest that controlling and monitoring urban emissions of pollutant gases is a key factor for the reduction of risk derived from COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant number of students in rural China drop out of junior high school. However, current analysis of the similarities and differences among these students are inadequate. Thus, we sought to explore the typology of students who dropped out of junior high school in the rural Hainan Province of China. We used latent class analysis to identify five types of students who chose to drop out. The categories included unexpected, unsupportive, maladjusted, financial difficulties, and peer-negative. Employing this typological classification as a guide, we explore the implications of our findings for future efforts in the field of research and in the prevention of junior high school withdrawal. Highlights: We explored the typology of students who dropped out of junior high school in the rural Hainan Province of China. We classified the dropout types as unexpected, unsupportive, maladjusted, financial difficulties, and peer-negative. Assessing and understanding a students' decision to drop out can facilitate future intervention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to understand the dynamics of multidimensional poverty and its determinants among mid-aged and older adults. We used 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018 data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. We utilised basic descriptive statistics, the poverty transition matrix, Kaplan–Meier estimates, and the discrete-time proportional hazards model for data analysis. From 2011 to 2018, the incidence of multidimensional poverty among mid-aged and older people basically decreased, but the average poverty intensity remained stable. Most mid-aged and older adults had transient multidimensional poverty. The longer an individual remained multidimensionally poor, the smaller the probability of exit from poverty; The longer an individual remained nonpoor after escaping from poverty, the smaller the probability of returning to poverty. As to other factors, individual characteristics, family structure, living arrangements, social capital, and living areas significantly affected the risks of multidimensional poverty exit and reentry. Based on these results, the government should implement targeted interventions for frail older adults with the identified characteristics to prevent them from persistent multidimensional poverty or return to poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the sustainable livelihood of farmers has been threatened by various events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly impacted efforts to alleviate poverty. Therefore, it is vitally important to increase farmers' sustainable livelihood resilience to enhance the stability and sustainability of poverty alleviation efforts. In this study, to scientifically measure and analyze farmers' sustainable livelihood resilience, we designed an analytical framework that captures the characteristics of farmers' sustainable livelihood resilience from the three dimensions of buffer capacity, self-organization capacity, and learning capacity. We then constructed an index system of farmers' sustainable livelihood resilience and a cloud-model-based multi-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model. Finally, the coupling coordination degree and decision tree methods were used to identify the level of development and relationships among the three abovementioned dimensions of farmers' sustainable livelihood resilience. A case study from Fugong County, Yunnan Province, China revealed that the spatial and temporal distributions of farmers' sustainable livelihood resilience were heterogeneous across various regions. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the coordinated development level of farmers' sustainable livelihood resilience is similar to that of its overall level because the three dimensions of buffer capacity, self-organization capacity, and learning capacity interact with each other and develop synergistically, and the lack of any one of these affects the overall development of farmers' sustainable livelihood resilience. In addition, the sustainable livelihood resilience of farmers in various villages is in a state of stable promotion, benign promotion, stagnation, mild recession, severe recession, or chaotic period, indicating a lack of balance in terms of the state of development. However, sustainable livelihood resilience will gradually improve in response to targeted support policies formulated by the national or local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the stratified poverty theory, poverty includes individual (people) and regional (place) poverty. Understanding the interaction mechanism between individual poverty and regional poverty is crucial to achieving the UN goal of poverty eradication by 2030. However, at present, the relevant empirical research is still limited by the availability of data. To fill this important gap, based on the multi-source data of poverty census, geo-environmental and socio-economic data of China's 1587 counties in 2013, we used exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and spatial econometric models (spatial-lag and spatial-error model) to identify determinants of individual poverty and regional poverty in this county. Results show that the spatial distribution of the rural poor in China had strong spatial dependence (Global Moran's I = 0.574). There was a high degree of spatial overlap between individual poverty and regional poverty. The poverty-causing factors were complex and varied across regions and individuals. Disease of family members was the leading factor driving rural areas in Northeast, Central, and Southwest China. Northeast China was mainly affected by the illness and lack of labor skills of family members. The complex terrain conditions were the determinants driving rural poverty in most areas of China. Improved transportation can greatly reduce rural poverty. Geographical isolation or lack of geographical capital caused by complex terrain conditions, backward transportation, and regional closure promoted regional poverty. In turn, regional poverty-causing factors further restricted the improvement of rural residents' self-development ability and aggravated individual poverty. Our findings indicate that individual poverty and regional poverty have different poverty-causing mechanisms and poverty reduction priorities. Effective poverty reduction strategies require the coordinated promotion of individual and regional poverty reduction. The reduction of individual poverty should focus on enhancing the livelihood capital of the poor through differentiated policy intervention, while regional poverty alleviation should focus on creating a favorable development environment by increasing infrastructure investment and public service supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is a common problem faced by all countries. Breaking the restrictions on urban–rural development imposed by the dual urban–rural system, China has greatly succeeded in eradicating absolute poverty, which has important reference significance for other developing countries to reduce poverty. However, few studies have systematically and empirically tested the heterogeneous impact of urban–rural integration (URI) on urban and rural poverty reduction. Using China's provincial panel data and the spatial econometric model, this study explores the relationship between URI and poverty reduction and tests its spatial spillover effects. The results show that URI and rural poverty present an inverted U-shaped relationship, which first aggravates and subsequently alleviates rural poverty. That has spatial overflow. For urban poverty, URI first reduces and then increases urban poverty in the province. In contrast, URI and urban poverty have an inverted U-shaped relationship in the surrounding province. By calculating the inflection point value, this study finds that when the URI level is between 0.300 and 0.480, URI can contribute to urban and rural poverty reduction in the local and surrounding areas. In the future, the government should dynamically monitor changes in urban and rural poverty while improving the development of URI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review essay surveys the literature that explains China's poverty reduction progress since the late 1970s. It examines three dominant explanations: geographic conditions, economic growth, and anti-poverty policies, whose impacts on poverty have evolved with China's socioeconomic transformation. The review finds that the government has come to play an increasingly significant part in mitigating geographic adversity and making growth more inclusive for the poor over the last two decades. However, our understanding of the political institutions and processes underpinning poverty reduction remains incomplete because most studies concentrate on national and provincial authorities but overlook the county government. As counties have gained considerable resources and authority in poverty reduction, an investigation of their capacity and efficacy is fundamental to explain their various poverty alleviation outcomes. This essay thus proposes a framework for future research that investigates county governments' bureaucratic arrangements and their relations to society to explain their performance in poverty reduction. This essay concludes with lessons and limitations of China's government-led poverty alleviation campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is a severe barrier to sustainable human development and a pressing worldwide issue. Understanding how to accurately assess the spatial distribution of poverty in mountain areas has become crucial for ensuring that governments at all levels take suitable poverty reduction strategies. In this study, the mountain poverty spatial index (MPSI) was created by combining the digital elevation model (DEM), Luojia-1 night-time light imagery, point of interest (POI) data, and vegetation index products. The MPSI was then used to identify the spatial characteristics of poverty at different scales in the hilly area of Ganzhou city, Jiangxi Province, China. Socioeconomic statistics and Google satellite images were used to verify the reliability of MPSI by constructing a multidimensional poverty index (MPI) at the county scale. The results showed that MPSI and MPI have a positive correlation with a correlation coefficient of 0.8934 (P<0.001), which indicates that MPSI could be used to identify the spatial distribution of poverty well. Specifically, the smallest distribution of both MPSI and MPI was in Zhanggong District (1.4555 and 0.1894), which indicates that most of the affluent counties were concentrated in the central region of Ganzhou, and the poor areas were scattered in the surrounding areas of Ganzhou. In addition, MPSI accurately identified poverty in mountainous areas with complex terrain in small administrative units, which can provide a more accurate way to monitor the poverty situation in the mountainous areas of China. This study will be useful for providing scientific references for the Chinese government to implement targeted strategies for eradicating poverty with differentiated policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have taken stringent climate policies to minimize the risks by climate change. But these policies could burden households and the poor with the extra costs and threaten their wellbeing. However, the consequences of climate policies on poverty and welfare loss are seldom presented in stringent long-term climate change mitigation projections. Carbon pricing is a cost-effective approach; how it affects households varies among countries. This study investigated the distributional effects and poverty implications of carbon pricing in China during the transition towards carbon neutrality and the Paris Agreement's long-term goals. We assessed multiple poverty and equity standards in future scenarios with a newly developed integrated assessment model. It was found that climate change mitigation efforts would not greatly hinder poverty alleviation in China, with the poverty headcount under the $3.2/cap/day-threshold being less than 0.3 million people in 2050 in most scenarios. A carbon tax became a regressive factor mainly due to price increases in food and energy goods. This indicates that the distributional effects on carbon pricing should be considered. For example, supplementary policies that compensate for price changes, such as subsidies and early mitigation actions, that lead to modest price increases in the long term are worthy of consideration as valid instruments for the just transition towards the 2 °C or even 1.5 °C pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the nonlinear relationship between poverty and CO2 emissions based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2019. In this study, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model is first used. Findings confirm that poverty has a negative impact on CO2 emissions in the short run and a positive impact in the long run, while both effects of inclusive finance on CO2 emissions are negative. In order to explore the reasons for the change in the coefficient of poverty, we introduce a moderating effect (ME) model and a dynamic panel threshold (DPT) model. The result shows that the negative effect of poverty on CO2 emissions diminishes with the moderation of inclusive finance. When inclusive finance crosses the threshold value (IFI = 0.2696), the impact of poverty on CO2 emissions will change from negative to positive gradually, which verifies the applicability of the "Poverty-CO2 Paradox" in China and provides an empirical basis for breaking the "Poverty-CO2 Paradox." Consequently, deepening poverty reduction and pushing the region's inclusive finance to the threshold level are proposed as effective ways to promote CO2 emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty has been a long-term global challenge, and China's Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) Strategy has made considerable advances in recent years. Taking a poverty-stricken county in Southwest China as an example, this study evaluated the effectiveness of the TPA strategy using a propensity scoring weighting model for multiple non-equivalent household groups based on counterfactual inference. It was found that households who planned to be out of poverty earlier had significantly higher incomes than those later, with transfer incomes contributing substantially to the income gap. The non-poverty-stricken households had much higher total income and significantly lower transfer incomes than the poverty-stricken households, including those that planned to be out of poverty earlier and those later. A more nuanced analysis revealed that the income of the poverty-stricken households was not as sustainable as expected. Therefore, measures to improve the self-development capabilities of these poverty-stricken households were also proposed to ensure the poverty alleviation programs are more effective and sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to assess India's performance in generating the required quantity and quality of employment for its growing population since independence in 1947. But the exercise is set in a longer period that covers India's population growth since the turn of the twentieth century (1901) in relation to its ability to generate employment. The half-a-century preceding independence, despite a slow population growth, was a disaster in generating employment and any signs of structural change. Detailed analysis of the issue since independence shows that there was indeed a demographic burden more than the world average as well as its comparator Asian countries such as China and Indonesia. While employment generation with reference to growth—employment elasticity—was quite impressive during the first four decades of independence, it almost collapsed ever since the adoption of neoliberal economic reforms in 1991, thus entering a phase of 'jobless growth', a phenomenon that is shared by China in a more vigorous form. This has led to what may be called an exclusion of working age people from not just employment but from labour force indicating the emergence of 'discouraged workers' in a larger set that we called underutilized labour. But what about those who are included in the workforce? Does it ensure an escape from poverty for those at the bottom? Our estimates show that the pace of reduction in the incidence of poverty is so slow that a significant share of households is still below the international definition of extreme poverty. We attribute this to the quality of employment characterized by a high incidence of informal sector employment as well as low wages measured by the share of workers not receiving a recommended subsistence wage. The absence of any kind of social security to an overwhelming share of workers adds to this situation of absolute poverty. Finally we examine the question of poverty from the point of manifold inequalities by dividing the households in the economy in terms of their employment, educational, rural–urban, and social group statuses for estimating predicted probability of being poor. The results bring into sharp focus the huge variation in predicted probability that shows households with low education, disadvantaged social group status, casual nature of employment, and living in rural areas at the bottom end of the scale. These results bring out the imperative for creating more employment with better quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The huge health expenditure for chronic diseases in the elderly is one of the uncertain factors that may cause the Borderline poor families to return to poverty after China fully lifts itself out of poverty in 2020, especially in rural low-income areas. Based on the latest data released by China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper used the two-part model to analyze the impact of elderly chronic diseases on health expenditure and catastrophic health expenditure of Borderline poor families in rural China. Some interesting results were found. For example, elderly chronic diseases such as stroke and hepatic disease have a large impact on the catastrophic health expenditures of families on the edge of poverty in rural China. Therefore, the government should drive middle-aged and elderly people to actively participate in physical exercise and prevent the high incidence of chronic diseases in the elderly. Furthermore, the government should improve the medical insurance system to provide solid support for low-income families and other vulnerable groups to avoid returning to poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the ecological systems theory, this study examined the multiple risk factors experienced by children from low-income families in China and their subsequent impact on children's psychological adaptation. A cumulative ecological risk questionnaire was constructed to examine the exploratory and descriptive risk factors most commonly exposed to children in families, schools and communities. The study sample consisted of 428 children from low-income families (N = 428; Mage = 12.35, SD = 2.51) from 20 ordinary primary and secondary schools across China. We conducted an exploratory latent class analysis using the responses from the cumulative ecological risk questionnaire. The results showed that a three-group solution fit the data best, with the following breakdown: "low-risk" = 41.1%, "family-risk" = 21.7%, and "school-risk" = 37.2%. The three groups showed significant differences in terms of psychological adaptation. The "low-risk" group exhibited fewer problem behaviors and higher prosocial behavior than the other groups. The "family-risk" group showed more significant adaptation difficulties, while the "school-risk" group showed lower levels of prosocial behavior. The results suggest that the ecological risks experienced by children from low-income families had significant group heterogeneity, which may further affect their psychological adaptation. Highlights: The ecological risks of children from low-income families were heterogeneous and may affect children's psychological adaptation. Latent class analysis favored a three-group solution: low-risk, family-risk, and school-risk groups. The three groups showed significant differences in terms of the children's psychological adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty alleviation and politics are interrelated in complex ways. Poverty governance is essentially a multi-faceted process of using political power, exercising political authority, mobilizing political resources, running political institutions, and gaining political legitimacy. However, the approach of economics has long dominated current discussions in the literature on poverty reduction, resulting in a relative lack of political science research on poverty reduction interventions. This special issue has gathered together carefully selected articles to examine the politics of poverty governance in non-electoral settings, with a specific area focus on China. Despite focusing on China, this special issue adopts a comparative analytical lens and extends beyond China studies by striving to position China's poverty governance in relation to general theories of political science. This introductory article seeks to expound the motives highlighted in the special issue, identify the literature gap that the special issue aims to fill, summarize the key findings and contributions, and finally suggest some promising new areas of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does poverty relief breed corruption? This question has been examined in several electoral polities, but not in other political settings. This study engages in this academic discussion by proposing a unique corruption mechanism in the case of China. The dual causes of National Poor Counties' unique exit mechanism and long distance from economic hubs create a unique local poli-economic environment, in which local bureaucrats share the incentive to stay in the program, which in turn leads to an intra-elite alliance and more corruption. I test the empirical implication of these mechanisms by first building up a new county-level corruption dataset for 881 low-income counties,and then leveraging propensity score weighting to evaluate the impact of the third wave (2001–2010) of China's poverty alleviation program on county level corruption. The results of this test show some evidence that counties participated in the third wave of the program are associated with approximately 4.4–19.7 percent increase in corruption incidence and 10.5–23.5 percent increase in numbers of convicted persons compared to similar non-participant counties. These findings highlight the importance of proper institutional designs in poverty alleviation regimes to lower the corruption incentive of local bureaucrats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers how the Chinese government's strategy of relational poverty governance has permitted its gaining control over parts of the country where its authority was fragile. President Xi Jinping's interest in targeted poverty alleviation has led success of this strategy to become a major concern of local governments. Based on fieldwork undertaken in China during the period 2016–2020, the article shows that state-managed political mobilization and rigid bureaucratic governance strategies are not the only means through which political power is exercised; relational poverty governance is another basis of the exercise of state power in rural communities. Mechanisms whereby three levels of state power—symbolic, bureaucratic, and moral—are executed in relational governance are identified. Through practical operations that include emotional interactions, paired assistance systems, and moral supervision, the state regains control in remote areas and strives to achieve successful governance. The article concludes by discussing the policy effectiveness of relational poverty governance and its implications for rural governance in contemporary China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eliminating poverty is a worldwide problem, but China has recently made major achievements in poverty alleviation. By the end of 2020, 832 nationally designated poor counties had all been lifted out of poverty within five years. Why do some poor counties perform better in poverty alleviation? This paper leverages a unique county-level dataset of 832 nationally designated poor counties in China and uses discrete-time event history analysis to understand the relationship between political institutions and poverty alleviation. We find that the presence of a county party committee secretary concurrently holding a higher rank position above the county level significantly increases the odds ratio of accomplishing poverty alleviation tasks. Previous studies have emphasized the important role of empowering people in democracies for poverty reduction. This study shows that empowering key governmental actors in authoritarian regimes can help them increase their bargaining power and improve the performance of poverty alleviation. In addition, this paper echoes the research on political institutions of authoritarian systems and deepens the understanding of the importance of the higher-ranking institution of Chinese officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the long-term health consequences of early-life chronic poverty—as proxied by enduring starvation experiences—for residents aged 45–90 in rural China. Chronic poverty poses a common threat to rural households' well-being in the developing world. However, our knowledge remains limited about whether and how it shapes later-life health disparities. This study focuses on such later-life outcomes as self-rated health and depression. We conduct multiple regression analysis and instrumental variable analysis that utilizes exogenous variation in respondents' childhood disaster experiences and local geographic condition as an instrument for self-reported starvation experiences. We find persistent disadvantages in the later-life self-rated health and depression of rural Chinese who experienced early-life chronic poverty. Suggestively, the lasting health impact of early-life chronic poverty may be elevated by current social disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correlations between socioeconomic factors and poverty in regression models do not reflect actual relationships, especially when data exhibit patterns of spatial heterogeneity. Spatial regression models can estimate the relationships between socioeconomic factors and poverty in defined geographical areas, explaining the imbalanced distribution of poverty, but the relationships between these factors and poverty are not always linear however, and conventional simple linear local regression models do not accurately capture these nonlinear relationships. To fill this gap, we used a local regression method, geographically weighted random forest regression (GW-RFR), that integrates a spatial weight matrix (SWM) and random forest (RF). The GW-RFR evaluates the spatial variations in the nonlinear relationships between variables. A county-level poverty data set of China was employed to estimate the performance of the GW-RFR against the random forest (RF). In this poverty application, the value of R 2 was 0.128 higher than that of the RF, the NRMSE value was 1.6% lower than the RF, and the MAE value was 0.295 lower than the RF. These results showed that the relationship between poverty factors and poverty varies with space at the county level in China, and the GW-RFR was suitable for dealing with nonlinear relationships in local regression analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous studies primarily claim that government-dependent firms can actively engage in compliance activities in order to achieve political legitimacy, access government resources, and build competitive advantages, these studies largely ignore how firms react when firm-dependent governments exert coercive pressures. We thus introduce institutional theory and the behavioral theory of social performance to develop a model of modest imitation, and we propose that the more governments depend on privately owned firms, the more firms demonstrate average social performance in order to balance efficiency concerns with political legitimacy threats. Meanwhile, whether firms imitate peers' social performance depends on the magnitude of institutional rigidity. In turn, issue salience and spatial proximity undermine modest imitation, and political connections strengthen modest imitation. We study how all listed, privately owned firms react to the Chinese government's call for social engagement in poverty alleviation initiated in 2015. This study uses a two-stage Heckman selection model to correct for sample-selection bias, and the results provide strong support for our arguments. This research thus extends our understanding of modest imitation in response to coercive pressure from-dependent governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualifying the official minimum of "Two no worries and three guarantees" (certainty of food and clothing, guarantees of compulsory education, basic medical care, and housing) is essential to evaluate the targeted poverty alleviation program since 2013 in China. Using the poverty monitoring dataset and the multidimensional poverty indicator system, the uneven dynamics and regional disparity of multidimensional poverty and its driving factors in poverty-stricken areas in China during 2014–2018 are explored in this paper. The incidence rate of multidimensional poverty was reduced by 61.72%, and the poverty reduction rate within the six dimensions ranged from 52.29 to 76.36%. Multidimensional poverty and its six dimensions displayed narrowing regional disparity. Impoverished and moderately poor areas shrank, whereas low-poverty areas expanded. All 22 provinces have become low-poverty areas in 2018. The contribution of each dimension to multidimensional poverty varies for different types at different stages. Income and expenditure contribute the most to poverty status, followed by transportation, housing conditions, education, communication, and medical care and health. The contribution of each indicator among different dimensions varied with different trends from 2014 to2018. This paper helps incorporate the official minimums of "Two no worries and three guarantees" into a more operational evaluation system to promote sustainable policies for governments at all levels by 2020 and beyond, as well as provide valuable references for poverty alleviation in other developing countries worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although reducing poverty has become an important issue for rural development in China, few studies have analyzed the role of mobile Internet use in multidimensional poverty. To fill this gap, this study investigated the impact of mobile Internet use on multidimensional poverty, using data collected from a household survey in rural China. Because households generally decide whether to use mobile Internet by themselves, an endogenous switching regression model was employed to control for potential selection bias. In total, 9.63% of the households were identified as multidimensionally poor and the adjusted multidimensional poverty incidence was 5.47%. The results also showed that mobile Internet use has a significant negative impact on multidimensional poverty. Further, we provide evidence of heterogeneity in the effect of mobile Internet use across regions. These findings highlight the importance of mobile Internet use in multidimensional poverty reduction strategies for rural households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty eradication and environmental degradation are the two crucial challenges, and they are highly interlinked in the modern era. However, countries are still more emphasized in attaining poverty alleviation and alleviating environmental pollution which require enormous attention. Our study is a novel attempt to scrutinize the effect of poverty on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for India and China over the sample period 1987–2019. Findings attained from the ARDL model suggest that a rise in poverty contributes to growing CO2 emissions in India only in short run. Further, findings show that poverty is the principal source of pollution in the long term in India and China. Empirical results proposed focal policy implications in the light of sustainable development goals for India and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-economic development in China is not balanced. After the absolute poverty (in accordance with the current criteria) has been eliminated, helping the poor and alleviating poverty has always been the pressing assignment. Bamboo is an important forest resource, widely distributed in China and many other countries. It not only provides raw materials for economic development, but also provides kinds of nutritious foods. Moreover, bamboo is widely used in the construction industry, in transportation, agriculture, fisheries, paper-making, and in household products. Thus, developing bamboo industry is helpful to alleviate rural poverty in mountainous regions and to push up local socio-economic progress. Based on field survey, actual social investigation and literature review, by aid of SWOT and PEST(EL) analysis, this article concludes several bamboo industries practiced in the country that help to increase farmers' incomes and promote economic development. Generally, bamboo industry can be divided into five catalogs: food, manufacturing industry, eco-tourism, energy and construction. Besides, eco-efficiency, carbon footprint and water footprint also discussed during its development process. Furthermore, the application prospects of bamboo and actual examples to create benefits are analyzed. It is expected that this paper could provide practicable experience and available pathway to improve economy and combat poverty for impoverished areas in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of livelihood transitions is conducive to poverty reduction and rural development. This study used three-wave panel data to quantitatively examine the livelihood transitions of Chinese rural households during two 2-year periods. The households were categorized into 5 livelihood strategy clusters depending on their income composition. The distribution of households among livelihood strategies exhibits a gourd-shaped structure and presents 2 trends, namely, the transition from on-farm strategies to off-farm strategies and an increase in non-labour households. The most common transition happens between the wage-employment-oriented strategy and the farming-oriented strategy, and the half-farming-and-half-employment strategy has the strongest mobility. Continuously, households with primary livelihood activities tend to persistently employ a strategy as the time spent on that strategy increases. From the perspective of poverty reduction, it is vital to understand the transition directions of farming-dependent households, and it is essential to promote slow but stable upward mobility. Farmland area and investment in farming have a negative effect on upward mobility, indicating the need for a more efficient agriculture operation mode, such as agriculture industrialization. The effect of labour migration is double-edged, and promoting the employment of members who have been left behind is crucial. In addition, the positive effects of network usage and education level of labors highlight the importance of improving the infrastructure and providing skill training in rural China. By analysing the livelihood distributions and transitions of rural households, comparing the disparities of the livelihood distributions and transitions of poor and non-poor households, and investigating the determinants of livelihood transitions, this paper aims to highlight the implications of these issues for poverty reduction in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores ethnic disparities in the prevalence, severity, and risk factors of child maltreatment in the home setting. Through multistage cluster sampling, we conducted an empirical survey of 2474 girls in Western China. The effective response rate was 93.7%. There are three major findings from this study. First, Chinese ethnic minority children face a higher risk of more prevalent or more severe child maltreatment than Han children. Second, ethnic desegregation appears to have a positive impact on reducing ethnic heterogeneity in child maltreatment. Third, ethnic disparities exist in the risk factors of child maltreatment, and ethnic desegregation can partly mitigate the ethnic differences in the risk factors of maltreatment. The results of this study indicate that there are visible ethnic disparities in child maltreatment in Western China. Ethnic heterogeneity is mainly caused by poverty-related adversity and residual child welfare policies in China. Ethnic desegregation may partly mitigate ethnic disparities, but it can effectively work only if similar life styles are shared among different ethnic groups. Multiethnic developing countries, such as China, should investigate the positive role of ethnic desegregation in countering child maltreatment, reduce the impact of poverty-related adversity on ethnic minority families, and popularize high-quality child welfare services in multiethnic areas. Highlights: Ethnic minority children have a higher prevalence and severity of child maltreatment than Han children in China. There are differences in the risk factors of child maltreatment among Chinese ethnic groups. Ethnic desegregation may partly mitigate ethnic disparities, but it can effectively work only if similar life styles are shared among different ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]