Search

Based on household survey datasets and the framework of pro-poor growth, the present paper discusses how economic growth and inequality affect poverty reduction in urban China. The findings in this paper suggest that the poor benefit from economic growth through the trickle-down effect, but that the poor benefit disproportionally less than the nonpoor in both periods, from 1988 to 1995 and from 1995 to 2002; however, in the latter period, the pro-poorness is higher than that of the former period. Using the principle of Shapley decomposition, this paper develops an index of pro-poor growth for each income component, and finds that the income from informal jobs is the main contributor to the pro-poorness of growth during the period 1995 to 2002. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of fast growth and increasing average income levels, China's development has been uneven across various sectors and regions. This uneven development has reduced the life satisfaction of many people and has caused social tensions. Using four rounds of the Chinese Household Income Project data, this paper investigates social tensions caused by inequality, poverty and polarization across rural and urban areas, and across the Eastern, Central and Western regions, and between the emerging super provinces/megacities and the rest. It shows that although tensions have been significantly alleviated by fast economic growth, the impact of growth imbalances is still very severe. China should focus on more balanced growth in addition to a high rate of growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last thirty years, remarkable achievements have been made in China's poverty reduction course. The dramatic fall in China's poor can be attributed mainly to a high rate of economic growth, government poverty reduction policies and targeted programmes and pro-poor macroeconomic and industrial policies. This paper focuses on China's poverty reduction policies and programmes and their impact on the poor regions and poor households. Lessons are drawn for poverty reduction and economic development in African countries. The paper also explores the potential for collaboration in poverty reduction between China and African countries and recommendations are made for the governments and donor agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a survey of the literature on inequality in China – level, change, causes, and consequences. It attempts to answer six main questions. How much has inequality risen? What is its relation to poverty alleviation? What has happened to wealth inequality? What are the main dimensions of rising income inequality? The dimensions examined are: the rural–urban divide; urban labor market reform; regional divergence; rural–urban migration; and entrepreneurship, rent-seeking, and corruption. Was it inevitable that inequality should rise so much? Does it matter that inequality has risen? Income distribution in China is bound up with both economic reform and economic growth. This paper concludes by considering the countervailing forces that will determine the path of inequality in future years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has lifted a record number of people out of poverty, has had sustained levels of economic growth-at environmental and social costs-started a global economic and political rise and is developing effective responses to the global financial crisis. It is making these transformations with institutions that continue to surprise international observers. An increasing number of studies have started to articulate the lessons from China's development. This paper reviews the different interpretations of these lessons, and the process of lesson learning, and the question what China's dramatic transformations over the last 30 years imply for development studies and practice. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its rapid economic growth, China remains a developing country facing serious challenges of poverty and inequality. This article examines the development and effectiveness of China's primary anti-poverty family policy, the Minimum Living Standard Assurance ( MLSA, or Dibao). Using rich administrative data and building on the existing literature, this article provides a critical evaluation of MLSA's benefit generosity, coverage, targeting, and anti-poverty effectiveness. To help reinforce MLSA's anti-poverty impacts, local governments in recent years have implemented a series of supplementary policies and programs, including health, education, housing, and work support programs. This article also provides an assessment of these supplementary policies and programs and draws policy implications for the ongoing expansion of the Chinese government's anti-poverty efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently China's central government has promoted public goods investment in pursuit of rural development and poverty reduction. However, the top down nature of investment planning may lead to mismatches between public goods projects and the demands of local residents. Using village- and household-level survey data, this study seeks to identify the determinants of project implementation, focusing on investments in roads, drinking water, and irrigation. Contrary to some popular perception, our results suggest symmetry between farmers' reported demand and the types of projects implemented in their villages. The relative contribution of local demand to project implementation is seen to vary, however, across different types of public goods. ( JEL D71, H41, H77, P35) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study asks whether, in a rapidly changing world, the estimated proportion of the world's population with income below US$1 (adjusted according to purchasing power parity) per day is still a good measure of trends in poverty. It argues that strong economic growth in nations such as China implies that the commonly accepted international poverty line definition of one half median national equivalent income is increasingly relevant and that poverty intensity (the normalized deficit or Foster–Greer–Thorbecke (FGT) index of order one) is a better summary index. This index has a convenient graphical representation—the “poverty box”. Using the proposed poverty line and the example of ranking the level of rural poverty in Chinese provinces, the study demonstrates how poverty intensity replicates the poverty rankings of the Sen family of poverty indices and captures most of the information content of higher-order FGT indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reform of agriculture in China is cited by scholars advocating economic growth through market reform. Such scholars argue that this aspect of reform has been characterized by the liberalization of markets for agricultural commodities, which spurred production, increased rural incomes, and reduced poverty. This view exaggerates the roles played by open markets and economic growth in that reform. This article argues that the role of the state in redistributing public assets, establishing institutions that supported markets, and designing and implementing poverty reduction policies also reduced poverty in China. I conclude that scholars, not just in China's case but also more generally, should examine the economic and political effects of various possible relationships between state and market. I offer this as one way forward in deepening our understanding of the role of politics and policy in promoting development and reducing poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's record in reducing poverty over the last three decades has been impressive, yet few studies have examined the incidence of poverty among older people despite the rapid ageing of the population. This article uses a unique national data set to examine patterns of poverty, deprivation and exclusion among the urban aged population (60 years and over) in 2000. The results point to the importance of poverty as an issue for older people, particularly for women and those who live alone. A number of indicators of hardship are developed in four areas – economic insecurity, housing, health, and social isolation – and the incidence of these is examined, separately and in combination, by living arrangement and gender. Women are shown to experience greater levels of hardship and isolation than men, and to be more likely to experience multiple deprivation across two or more areas. Finally, the overlap between poverty and hardship is examined as a way of validating the poverty estimates and giving them greater credibility. The results indicate that there are strong overlaps, although these differ across the different dimensions of hardship. Access to pension income and concern over the cost of necessary visits to see a doctor emerge as strong predictors of poverty and point to areas where policy change is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on Hong Kong and Singapore. There are many similarities between Hong Kong and Singapore. They have both enjoyed high rates of economic growth over the past three decades, averaging six percent a year in real terms. The two have become known as "East Asian Tigers," having made the transition from poverty to newly industrialized economies in a relatively short time. Both started off as British colonies, with British legal and administrative systems, and made their living as trading ports serving their respective regions. Singapore has been an independent republic since 1965, Hong Kong was returned to China on July 1, 1997. Hong Kong and Singapore are both densely populated cities. Hong Kong and Singapore capture economic rent primarily by nationalizing land and leasing it out. In 1998, Hong Kong's land area of 1,095 square kilometers and her population of 6.6 million were both approximately twice those of Singapore. Owing to historical reasons, Hong Kong's land- tenure arrangements produce an effect comparable to that of straightforward land-value taxation.