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ABSTRACT China eradicated rural extreme poverty in 2020 after an 8‐year campaign that combined endogenous economic development involving local people with social assistance. Ethnographic research in a village in southwest China reports township officials, under‐resourced and pressed by higher tiers of government to meet the poverty‐eradication target, commissioning an entrepreneur as a policy‐broker. The latter established enterprises nominally to provide local employment, while seeking profitability from their investment. Prioritising poverty eradication over sustainability, government subsidies were employed to engineer income transfers lifting villagers out of poverty by the target date. Thereafter, transfers of income from the enterprises to impoverished people were at best irregular. The experience highlights the distorting effect of policy targets and the limits to endogenous development undertaken under time–pressure with villagers neither consulted nor benefiting from new employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various pro-cycling policies emerged around the world with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. France experimented with a €50 bike repair subsidy. Our questionnaire survey (n = 7343) focuses on beneficiaries' sociological profiles. Despite its success in quantitative terms, the repair subsidy benefited more regular cyclists—who cycle daily—and people who are confident cycling in urban areas. Women were more likely to benefit than men, and people in low-income households more than those in high-income households. Because these populations are usually underrepresented among cyclists in France, the scheme may appear to have reduced inequities in cycling. However, the scheme could have reached out more to the low-income population who were largely unaware of it. This selectivity is partly explained by awareness of the subsidy, which is lower among the younger and the less educated part of the population. Our survey shows that the scheme is selective primarily because of its design. It would have been necessary to accompany it with measures specifically designed for vulnerable groups. • Bike repair subsidy has been successful in quantitative terms. • Bike repair subsidy mainly benefited regular, confident, and women cyclists. • Low-income cyclists benefited the most although they were poorly informed. • Access to information about subsidies is itself socially selective. • Although the scheme is based on equal treatment, it can hardly be considered fair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neil McCulloch, director of the London-based professional network The Policy Practice, has written a timely primer on the economics and political economy of fossil fuel subsidies. McCulloch's key point is that it is not enough for economists to measure subsidies and design reforms. Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies: The Politics of Saving the Planet: By Neil McCulloch. [Extracted from the article]

With the advancement of marketization, China has achieved rapid economic growth and economic class differentiation. This research analyzes the data from China's livelihood survey, divides the urban Chinese into five socio-economic classes, and tests their preferences and tendencies for income redistribution. It obtains the general attitude differences in subsidy policy and income inequality during COVID-19. Our conclusion are consistent with the existing literature to a great extent; that is, personal factors (self-interest and belief in fairness) play a crucial role in the attitude of Chinese citizens. In the analysis of situational factors, the results show that the higher the level of marketization, the people are more likely to have stronger negative emotions about subsidy or redistribution policies. Further analysis shows that people with the lowest income are susceptible to the fact that income inequality has become significant and show a strong willingness to support the government's redistribution policy. In contrast, middle-class people tend to favor the government's redistribution policy, although they will not benefit much from the redistribution policy. Therefore, they lack the motivation to support the government in vigorously implementing the subsidy policy. Significantly, high-income people are indifferent, as they lack such motivation even more. The difference in redistribution preferences between upper-class and lower-class groups signals polarization in Chinese society, especially income redistribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main motives for the Algerian government’s adoption of the policy to support oil derivatives were social motives that fall within the responsibilities that the state must undertake to achieve social stability. Governmental support for oil derivatives is in the interest of the wealthiest individuals; This is due to the high consumption of these derivatives. Lifting subsidies on oil derivatives will reduce costs, but it will not improve the standard of living of the poor, and if no corrective measures are taken for these policies, this will lead to a decline in the living standards of the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty in India has been declining consistently over the years, yet it is home to 172 million poor people. Most of India's poor are concentrated in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture. This poses a serious challenge to the exploration of potential pathways that could effectively eradicate poverty and accomplish the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We estimate the effects of various types of investment in rural areas in accelerating agricultural productivity and reducing rural poverty, and find differential impacts of investments and subsidies across low-, middle-, and high-income states. Private investment in minor irrigation, public investments in agricultural research and development, and subsidies on irrigation and electricity have the highest marginal returns in low-income states. Further, the payoffs from additional spending in promoting agricultural income are also higher in low-income states, suggesting targeting these locations with strategic investments and subsidies to improve agricultural productivity and reduce poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The federal child care subsidy program reduces child care costs for eligible low-income families to facilitate parental employment and educational attainment. Using national data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), this study is the first to ask whether subsidies induce an increase in maternal education level over time, and if so, whether this increase is steeper for mothers who use subsidies to increase their education when their children are younger. After matching subsidy recipients with subsidy-eligible non-recipients on a range of background variables, we assess whether mothers increase their education levels in response to entry into the subsidy program at two different points in a child's early years: first when children are 2 years old and then when children are in preschool. Results suggest that subsidy receipt promotes mothers' educational attainment, with the largest impacts for mothers who receive subsidies when their children are younger (2 years old vs preschool-age) and for subgroups of mothers who have low baseline levels of education (high school or below) and who are not initially enrolled in school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo analiza la eliminación de los subsidios a los servicios en Venezuela, incluidos los sectores de servicios de energía e infraestructura y la implementación del socialismo del siglo XXI. El artículo también analiza el colapso del sector petrolero, sus causas y consecuencias, incluida la reforma de los subsidios en diferentes sectores de la economía y compensar a los grupos de bajos ingresos de Venezuela.

State child care subsidy programs are intended to support the employment of low-income parents, particularly for families receiving or likely to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. To study the impact of child care subsidies on employment, this study used detailed data from a survey of low-income parents in Minnesota, linked with administrative data on subsidy receipt, to estimate endogenous switching models of subsidy receipt and parent work status. Parental preferences about the child development-related characteristics of child care settings were the basis for an instrumental variable used to predict subsidy receipt. Receiving a subsidy significantly increased the probability of employment and especially of full-time employment. The findings suggest that expansion of the child care subsidy program could lead to increased employment among low-income parents with young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultimately, the rich will find a way to profit from a basic income, to the detriment of the poor, thanks to the distributional effects of different types of state financing. It would be folly to call for a UBI without a detailed and sophisticated calculation of the distributive effects of its financing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the National Food Security Act (NFSA) passed by the Indian Parliament offering albeit, cereals in limited amounts at subsidized prices to the bottom urban and rural populations. Topics discussed include the Act as the largest welfare program undertaken for providing food security and nutrition to poor, replacing the price subsidy with revenue neutral direct unconditional income transfers to benefit extremely poor and no imposition of additional fiscal burden.

During the recent Great Recession, US households, especially those with low incomes, faced severe financial distress. Households experiencing economic hardship may turn to receiving government assistance to alleviate the hardship or distress. Receiving government assistance may improve a household's financial situation as it could be decreasing its reliance on debt or even improving a household's ability to repay their current debt. We investigated how households' financial debt obligations were affected by receiving government assistance, as has not been previously analyzed. Given the focus of this research, we included households under 185 % of poverty threshold released by the 2012 US Census Bureau. Results from the 2010 and 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances indicate that government assistance was positively related to the odds of meeting debt-to-income ratio guidelines, implying that government assistance plays an important role in financial security of low-income households. This study provides important insights for researchers and policymakers in the areas of poverty and household finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a model of optimal income taxation, estimates China's skill distribution function based on the data from a recent survey, and finds the optimal marginal and average income tax rates for China. It shows that both the optimal marginal and average tax rates increase at decreasing rates, and become rather flat at high-level skills. China's current marginal tax rate increases at a decreasing rate at low-level skills and increases at an increasing rate at high-level skills. To be optimal, the low income groups in China should be subsidized, the tax threshold should be raised, and the highest marginal tax rate should be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how in Medicare Part D insurers' gaming of the subsidy paid to low-income enrollees distorts premiums and raises the program cost. Using plan-level data from the first five years of the program, I find multiple instances of pricing strategy distortions for the largest insurers. Instrumental variable estimates indicate that the changes in a concentration index measuring the manipulability of the subsidy can explain a large share of the premium growth observed between 2006 and 2011. Removing this distortion could reduce the cost of the program without worsening consumer welfare.(JEL G22, H51, I13, I18) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an overview of the U.S. Lifeline program which provides a discount for telecommunication services to the indigent, and discusses its role in the Federal Communications Commission's goal to provide Universal Service to citizens. Topics include an overview of the Universal Service; Universal Service Fund created by Universal Service Administrative Co., which is funded by telecommunications companies; and a law in Georgia which charges Lifeline consumers to discourage fraud.

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to see whether Government of India is successful to make credit accessible to the poor; to examine the role of competition in microfinance sector in ensuring credit to the ultra poor borrowers; to see the role of subsidy in microfinance movement. Design/methodology/approach -- The paper is based on secondary data. This paper examines, in an analytical framework with a variety of assumptions, the role of microfinance institutes (MFIs) in bringing capital to the ultra poor. Findings -- In an attempt to make credit accessible to the poor, Government of India took several measures, but did not succeed to a significant extent. This paper has shown that the microcredit has become accessible to the "working poor," but not to the ultra poor. Initially the model shows that in the absence of competition MFI and moneylender are equally exploitative to the ultra poor borrowers. The model further shows that in the presence or absence of competition in the credit market, credit may be accessible to the ultra poor borrowers under certain conditions. Excessive subsidies might drive out the poor borrowers from the microfinance sector. Originality/value -- For the poor clients served by the microfinance institution, the argument goes, the access not the cost (interest rate) that matters (Robinson, 2001). Here the implicit assumption is that the interest rate elasticity of demand for micro credit is close to zero (Emran et al., 2006). In an interesting paper Deheja et al (2005) has shown that the interest rate elasticity of loan in the microfinance system is significantly negative. The author is of the opinion that this is the cost of credit as well as inability to pay a minimum price of credit, which denies the access to credit. JEL Classifications -- G21, G38, L12, L14, O18 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PLACE-BASED POLICIES TO ADDRESS POVERTY AND JOBLESSNESS Many individuals face poverty and joblessness due to limited economic opportunities in the place where they live. Professor Neumark argues that place-based policies should target wage subsidies only to individuals from poor families who reside in the targeted area and be tied to employment that includes skill building and training that supports a transition to unsubsidized private sector employment within 18 months. [Extracted from the article]

The article briefly discusses an article published in the same issue concerning sanitation for poor people and examined the relative benefits of financial subsidies, health information, or increased availability of hygienic latrines for purchase and found subsidies provided the greatest benefit.

The article discusses the use of cash transfer programs in government efforts to fight poverty. According to the author, these programs facilitate a closer relationship between citizens and the state by generating data about the poor and opening direct lines of communication between cash transfer recipients and researchers. Details on the use of digital biometrics, cell phones, and debit cards to identify and collect information on the poor are presented. Other topics include gasoline subsidies, competition between public and private suppliers of health care, and the direct transfer of foreign aid and income from natural resource extraction to citizens.