金融知识和社会网络对民族地区减贫的影响研究

The Impact of Financial Knowledge and Social Networking on Poverty Alleviation in Ethnic Minority Areas

本文利用中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据,研究了金融知识对民族地区贫困主体稳健脱贫的作用。使用工具变量控制了金融知识可能存在的内生性问题,并考虑了民族地区社会网络的特性对金融知识减贫效应的影响,发现金融知识对民族地区贫困减缓具有显著促进作用。但民族地区贫困主体的基本金融知识还较为匮乏,实施金融教育项目改善金融知识,是民族地区现有帮扶措施的有效补充。此外,社会网络也能够通过同伴效应对民族地区金融知识的行为转化产生影响,但要规避社会网络较高维系成本带来的负面影响。

Since the implementation of targeted poverty alleviation programs,ethnic minority areas have made great achievements in reducing poverty. However,the scale,breadth and depth of poverty in ethnic minority areas are still significantly higher than those in other parts of China. In the current historical stage,ethnic minority areas face both the problem of precise poverty alleviation,and the severe challenge of consolidating poverty alleviation achievements that were accomplished in the past. Current research emphasizes the role of underpinning social security and increasing the incomes of poor households in poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas. However,insufficient attention has been paid to income appreciation and asset allocation after receiving income,which not only makes it difficult to achieve stable poverty alleviation for the poor,but creates the problem of"going the last mile"in poverty alleviation. How to improve the ability for stable poverty alleviation of the poor through reasonable income and asset allocation is an important theoretical issue for achieving the historic goal of poverty alleviation in ethnic minority regions.This article introduces financial knowledge as a way to reflect the impact income and asset allocation has on stabilizing poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas. A basic assumption is that financial knowledge can affect the income and asset allocation behaviors of poor families,thereby affecting asset returns and poverty status in the short term,and affecting capital accumulation and poverty vulnerability in the long term. It is worth noting that social networks formed in ethnic minority areas can potentially affect the relationship between financial knowledge and poverty alleviation in these areas.Social networks are not only an important source of capital,but they can also cause individual financial behaviors to face more peer impact,which may lead to a different relationship between financial knowledge and poverty alleviation in ethnic minority regions.Paying attention to the income and asset allocation of the poor inethnic minority areas from the perspective of financial knowledge will help the poor to make rational financial decisions and guide long-term investment strategies, which is holds great significance for stable poverty alleviation among the poor in ethnic minority areas. This paper uses data from the Chinese Family Panel Survey( CFPS) to empirically test the impact of financial knowledge on the state of static poverty and poverty vulnerability in ethnic minority areas. The IVProbit model is used to control the possible endogenous problems of financial knowledge. The basic conclusions of this article are as follows:First,financial knowledge plays a significant role in promoting poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas. This conclusion remains significant even after controlling for variables such as education,cognitive ability,and social networks. However,financial knowledge has a different effect on different groups of poor people. Financial knowledge is more conducive to the sustainable poverty reduction of poor households who are near the poverty line. The lack of financial knowledge and the significant poverty reduction effect of financial subjects in ethnic minority areas means that improving financial knowledge through financial education is an important means to achieve stable poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas.Second,social networks are also an important influencing factor for poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas. Social networks represented by the expenditure of human interaction have a positive effect on poverty incidence and poverty vulnerability in ethnic minority areas, and can improve household income through information and risk sharing,and, can thereby effect the behavioral transformation of financial knowledge through peer efforts. However,the results in this paper also show that a high proportion of human expenses in the family’s net income negatively affects the consolidation of poverty reduction effects of poor families in ethnic minority areas. While giving play to the advantages of social networks in ethnic minority areas,it is also necessary to restrain the high costs of maintaining social networks.Using the perspective of financial knowledge,this paper focuses on income and asset allocation after income is obtained. The research conclusions of this paper can provide implications for anti-poverty policies. The policy recommendations are as follows:First,ethnic minority areas should improve financial knowledge through the implementation of financial education programs in order to achieve stable poverty reduction that is based on endogenous motivation. Improving financial knowledge can complement policies for decreasing poverty in ethnic minority areas,policies such as financial poverty alleviation, tourism poverty alleviation,and employment poverty alleviation. However,the implementation of financial knowledge improvement projects needs to be classified and implemented to reflect the precise target. The impact of financial knowledge on those populations near the poverty line is more significant,and the participation of this part of the group is also more enthusiastic.This part of the population is the focus of financial education. For the poor who are in relatively deep poverty,but who not willing to participate,the main current contradiction is how to improve income through endogenous motivation and the cultivation of material capital. Financial education is more of an income bonus or a catalyst,which can be an effective supplement to income increasing policies. Relying on financial education alone cannot achieve sustained poverty reduction for the poor.Second,the content design and implementation of financial education must reflect the real needs of poor people. Financial education does not affect poverty alleviation only through the cognitive ability and common knowledge acquired through education,but it improves the sustainability of income and asset accumulation of the poor by affecting the participation of financial products and services. Therefore,financial education should emphasize financial decision-making attributes,and financial education cannot be equated with literacy classes or math classes in evening schools. In addition,subject to economic development and the status of family income in ethnic minority areas,the impact of basic financial knowledge,such as regular savings,and interest rates on poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas,is more significant. The design of financial education projects should emphasize the education of basic financial knowledge and the habit of financial participation.From the perspective of the implementation of financial education,it is also a good practice to achieve indirect transfer of basic financial knowledge through school students.Third,we must realize the important role social networks can play in poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas. Social networks have a significant positive effect on poverty alleviation in ethnic minority areas,but the proportion of human expenditure to income reflects a negative poverty reduction effect. This shows that social capital is important for the performance of poverty reduction in ethnic minority areas,but it is necessary to start with gradual changes in ethnic customs, and change customs to reduce the cost of maintaining social capital in ethnic minority areas. Moreover,the introduction of information and communication infrastructure such as the internet access can improve the scope of social networks. In addition,the study of other control variables in this article shows that education has the property of "increasing returns to scale ",and vigorously developing education is still a fundamental measure for fighting poverty in ethnic minority regions.