基于风险与机会视角的贫困再定义

Redefinition of the Poverty Based on Risks and Opportunities

对贫困概念和成因的合理界定和理解是制定反贫政策的重要基础,对贫困的定义是根据不同阶段和时期的贫困特征不断发展和完善的动态过程。我国是世界上贫困问题最为严重的国家之一,在新的反贫阶段中,原有的贫困概念界定和贫困成因已无法对新时期贫困的特征进行全面解释,需要进一步对贫困的概念和成因进行丰富和完善,以制定合理有效的反贫政策和方法。本文主要利用文献归纳法,对国内外不同时期对贫困概念界定和贫困成因进行归纳总结,发现对贫困的解释由单纯考虑收入因素发展到综合考虑能力、权力、社会排斥、脆弱性等,造成贫困的原因主要有制度不利论、资本缺乏论及环境约束论,虽然在贫困的概念及成因中脆弱性的提出涉及了风险的要素,但大部分学者将脆弱性视为贫困群体缺乏权利的一种表现,没有突出风险在贫困内涵中的重要性,尤其是没有涉及机会把握对反贫困的重要作用。因此,本文认为在新时期贫困的形成过程中,应将风险和机会纳入到贫困的内涵中,将贫困概念进行扩展和完善,即贫困应为缺乏应对风险冲击的能力及没有把握获得更好生活的机会,风险冲击与机会缺失是导致贫困的本质因素。机会缺失其实质是个体风险偏好的不同,近年来实验经济学引入个体风险偏好的研究开拓了个体风险偏好的研究视野,由此本文设计了基于风险与机会的贫困分析框架,为反贫研究提供了一个新的思路和框架。并提出对风险的有效管理是农户脱贫的重要手段,有效的风险管理可将导致贫困的可能性降至最低,同时也是最为节约成本的反贫方法。

Reasonable definition and understanding of the concept and the reasons of poverty are the important foundations of making anti-poverty policy. The definition of poverty is the dynamic process of continuous development and improvement of poverty characteristic based on different stages and periods. China is one of countries facing the most serious problems of poverty in the world. In the new stage of anti-poverty, the original definition and causes of poverty has been unable to explain the characteristics of the poverty in the new period comprehensively. It needs further to enrich and perfect the concept and the causes of poverty to formulate rational and effective anti-poverty policies and methods. In this paper, literature method was used to summarize the definition and causes of poverty in different periods at home and abroad. It was found that the interpretation of the poverty from only income factors to comprehensive consideration on capacity, power, social exclusion, vulnerability, etc. The causes of poverty are mainly adverse system theory, lack of capital deals and environmental constraints theory. Although the vulnerability of the concept and causes of poverty involved risk factors, most of scholars regarded vulnerability as a sign of lacking rights for poverty groups, which not highlighted the importance of the risk in the connotation of poverty, especially without involving the important role of grasping opportunity playing in the anti-poverty. Therefore, this paper argued that in the process of the formation of the poverty in the new period, the connotation of poverty should be expanded and perfected. Poverty is caused by lacking of ability to cope with risk impact and not grasping the opportunity to gain a better life. Risk impact factors and the lack of opportunity are the essence of poverty. The essence of opportunity lacking is the difference between the individual risk preferences. The researches of individual risk preference introduced by experimental economics in recent years have opened research vision of the individual risk preference. Therefore this paper designed the poverty framework based on the analysis of risk and opportunity, which provides a new thought and framework for the anti-poverty research. It was also put forward that the effective risk management is an important means for farmers out of poverty. Effective risk management will make the possibility of poverty lowest, which is also the most cost-saving anti-poverty method at the same time.