Inequality of rural residents'income in China since the targeted poverty alleviation strategy:New trends,causes,and policy implications

Poverty and income inequality are problems faced by many countries including China.Since the implementation of Targeted Poverty Alleviation(TPA),absolute poverty has been eradicated,meanwhile,Chinese rural residents'income and inequality have experienced unprecedented new dynamics,but still,very few studies have focused on them.Hence,we attempt to examine the new trends in Chinese farmers'income inequality and to understand its causes during this period.We observe that China's urban-rural income ratio has been shrinking and the urban-rural inequality has been decreasing from 2014 to 2021.The reduction in the Theil index indicates a decrease in the regional inequality of farmers'income as well,and the decline in inter-regional inequality among eight economic zones contributes about 80%to increased equality.These new trends are caused by the fact that,with the TPA,the incomes of rural residents especially that in destitute areas,grew faster than that of urban residents and farmers in prosperous areas.The higher share of non-agricultural industry and agricultural mechanization level have significant positive impact on regional equality of farmers'income,while urban-rural dual structure has significant negative inhibitory effects.The lowest farmers'income and the highest inequality in the Northwest,and the slowest growth in the Northeast deserve more attention in rural Revitalization.From these findings,we propose four policy implications that would be applied to improve Chinese farmers'income equality,govern relative poverty,and achieve common prosperity in the post-poverty era.

Poverty Alleviation Act:the Inevitable Product of the Development Law of Poverty Alleviation

Poverty alleviation is a grand project involving the whole society,and is related to the development direction of socialism and the process of national modernization.It is the basic national policy and major strategic deployment of China to eliminate poverty and improve people s livelihood under the new historical conditions.Therefore,in order to win the final victory of poverty alleviation and difficulties tackling,it is not enough to have only a policy system and an institutional system.It is also necessary to establish an effective legal system to regulate and restrain various poverty alleviation behaviors,which is the basic condition for ensuring the sustainable development of poverty alleviation.

Types and Optimization Paths Between Poverty Alleviation Effectiveness and Rural Revitalization:A Case Study of Hunan Province,China

Exploring the synergy types and optimization paths between Poverty Alleviation Effectiveness and Rural Revitalization is necessary for achieving the two centenary goals.Taking poverty alleviation counties in Hunan Province,China as an example,our study proposed an indicator to measure the synergistic development between Poverty Alleviation Effectiveness and Rural Revitalization using the multi-index integrated evaluation method.Then,the coupling types were classified based on both the proposed indicator and regional characteristics.Besides,the corresponding optimization path for each coupling type was proposed to promote the synergistic development of Poverty Alleviation and Rural Revitalization.Results are as follows:1)Lower synergy focused on the southwestern Hunan,while low synergy is widely distributed(such as the west,southwest,northwest,and midland).Moderate synergy is in the midland,such as Huaihua and Chenzhou cities.High synergy is distributed in Yongzhou,Huaihua,Xiangxi cities,etc.Besides,only Hecheng City belongs to the higher synergy.2)This paper proposes corresponding development paths for different development characteristics and main problems from multiple perspectives of the protection system,industrial planning,and rural market.Continuously consolidate and enhance the effectiveness of Poverty Alleviation and Rural Revitalization to achieve coupled and synergistic development of the two systems.Our research results can provide theoretical support for implementing Poverty Alleviation and Rural Revitalization in Hunan Province,China.

Current Situation and Countermeasures of Agricultural Industry Development in Linyi under the Background of Poverty Alleviation

By summarizing current situation of modern agriculture in Linyi City,problems faced by the development of modern agriculture in Linyi City under the background of helping poverty alleviation are analyzed.They are mainly the low degree of farmers'organization and the low level of agricultural industrialization;the low overall quality of farmers and the weak ability to absorb science,technology and culture;weak agricultural infrastructure and deterioration of agricultural ecological environment;inadequate agricultural scientific and technological innovation and slow popularization and application of achievements.A series of solutions and countermeasures are put forward to improve the degree of farmers'organization,enhance farmers'quality,increase investment in agricultural infrastructure,and accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

Empirical Research on the Relationship between Education Poverty Alleviation and Rural Revitalization—Spatial Panel Simultaneous Equation Model Based on Provincial Panel Data

On the basis of using entropy weight method to measure China’s education poverty alleviation and rural revitalization evaluation indicators, using the panel data of 30 provinces in China (excluding Xizang, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) from 2012 to 2021, a spatial panel simultaneous equation model is constructed based on adjacency matrix, geographical distance matrix and economic geographical distance matrix deeply study the interaction mechanism and spatial spillover effects between education poverty alleviation and rural revitalization through the generalized spatial three-stage least squares method (GS3SLS). The results indicate that there is a significant spatial spillover effect and a positive spatial correlation between education poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, and there is a significant interactive effect between the two variables, while promoting each other positively. Therefore, the government should clarify the deep relationship between education poverty alleviation and rural revitalization based on the current background, and better consolidate and expand the effective connection between the achievements of education poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.

The Model of Poverty Alleviation and Income Growth by Developing Plateau-characterized Agriculture and Its Achievements Analysis in Yunnan Province——a Case Study in Midu County, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture

The policy of taking the targeted poverty alleviation measures has been the mission of the age in propelling the 13th Five-year Plan and building moderately prosperous society. A good poverty alleviation model is of significance for the goal. The research introduced a poverty-stricken county-Midu County, Dali Bai Au- tonomous Prefecture, analyzed the basic approaches and the main achievements of ＂the model of poverty alleviation and income growth by developing plateau-charac- terized agriculture＂, and proposed some suggestions to promoting and applying this model. The research provides references for plateau-characterized agricultural devel- opment and targeted poverty alleviation strategy.

Income effects of poverty alleviation relocation program on rural farmers in China

This paper analyses the impact of the poverty alleviation relocation(PAR)program on rural household income and evaluates the heterogeneous income effects of various relocation modes,based on a panel dataset of relocated households from 16 counties in eight Chinese provinces.The results show that participation in the PAR increases the income of both rural and urban resettlers.More specifically,it has a significant positive effect on agricultural and wage income for rural and urban resettlers,respectively.Further analyses show that the income increase for rural resettlers was mainly due to agricultural technology training and that the income increase for town resettlers was attributed to medical security.For the village resettlers,policies should focus on strengthening the development of local industries and training of agricultural technologies.For the urban resettlers,non-agricultural employment and public services in the urban resettlement areas should be promoted.

Synthesize dual goals:A study on China's ecological poverty alleviation system

How to break the vicious cycle of poverty and ecological degradation is widely concerned and discussed.In the poverty alleviation practices in China,ecological poverty alleviation(EPA)is regarded as an important way to synthesize the dual goals of poverty reduction and environmental protection and to achieve the win-win outcomes.Many Chinese researchers have fruitful research achievements on EPA yet they do not recognize that EPA is not a simple combination of various policies,but a complex system involving multiple policy instruments,governmental agencies,social forces,and agents.However,few studies abroad illustrate EPA in detail.They focus more on specific components of EPA such as payment for ecosystem services while overlooking the integral concept of EPA and practices from China.Based on field research in Guizhou Province,China,this paper proposes a framework of EPA with an effective multi-agent and co-government system,for demonstrating the concept and practice of EPA.With case analysis,we illustrate key elements in this system and their relationships,and how they play a vital role in pursuing win-win outcomes in environmental protection and poverty alleviation.The three dimensions of this EPA system have been discussed.The first is to strengthen the interaction among the agents.Many efforts should be made for establishing an efficient communication routine and a stable relationship among their interests.The second is to reinforce the connection between diverse elements in each policy subsystem,such as the systematization and coordination of the ecological industry development,the systematization of the links before,during,and after the relocation of ecological immigrants,etc.The third is to promote the interactions between the three subsystems,so that ecological enhancement,ecological compensation,and industrial development,and migration and relocation can promote each other,and ultimately promote the coordination of poverty alleviation and ecological protection in povertystricken areas.Thus,this paper analyzes how to establish the communication routine among the relevant agents of EPA,the interaction among the internal elements of the subsystems,and the relationship between the subsystems in series,trying to reveal the basic operating mechanism of the system.

Financial Poverty Alleviation in Rural Areas of Hubei Province

In order to find out the various restrictions and difficulties of financial poverty alleviation in rural areas,taking Hubei Province as an example,this paper firstly introduced current situations of financial poverty alleviation in rural areas of Hubei Province. Then,it analyzed problems confronted by financial poverty alleviation in rural areas of Hubei Province:( i) subjects of financial poverty alleviation not mature and poverty alleviation risks increased,( ii) backward agricultural insurance system,( iii) rural credit system not perfect,and( iv) weak guiding policies of financial poverty alleviation. Finally,it came up with pertinent recommendations: improving rural financial environment,actively developing the innovation mode of financial poverty alleviation,and strengthening relevant supervision efforts.

Poverty Alleviation Law Being Fundamental Condition for Ensuring Sustainable Development of Targeted Poverty Alleviation

Targeted poverty alleviation is a wise and far-reaching basic national policy formulated by the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It is a strategic project and strategic goal for the Chinese people to completely shake off poverty and backwardness and move towards a prosperous and powerful country,as well as the historical mission of socialism to defeat capitalism. However,targeted poverty alleviation is a grand project involving the entire society. To ensure the ultimate realization of the goal of targeted poverty alleviation,only policies and programs are far from enough. Corresponding legal systems must also be established,which is the fundamental condition for targeted poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

How to Effectively Improve the Poor People’s Capacity for Poverty Alleviation

Poverty has been a world-wide issue.Due to the social disturbs caused by poverty,crime rates have risen,and diseases have spread.Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,the party and the country have attached great importance to poverty alleviation and led people to successfully create a path of poverty alleviation and development with Chinese characteristics,bringing more than 700 million people out of absolute poverty,and contributing to the world's poverty alleviation.Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the state has promoted the targeted poverty alleviation,innovated poverty alleviation methods,and made new progress in the poverty alleviation work.Under the current economic model of precise poverty alleviation,effectively improving the capacity of the poor for poverty alleviation has become a top priority.

China’s Poverty Alleviation

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,China’s rural poverty alleviation has achieved periodical progress,creating a great miracle in the history of poverty alleviation,and becoming the first country to complete the Millennium Developing Goals of poverty alleviation in the United Nations.At present,we are in a critical period of winning the battle against poverty and decisively developing a moderately prosperous society in all respects.By precisely figuring out the hard course of poverty alleviation in China in recent decades,concluding the experience of poverty alleviation and defining the key points for advancing the poverty alleviation work in the future,we are sure to get rid of poverty in the countryside and carry out the strategy of rural revitalization better.

Review of Poverty Alleviation Work in Rural Areas in China and Its Future Prospects

Since the launched of reform and opening up,the Chinese government has made great efforts and provided a lot of funds to promote poverty alleviation and development in rural areas China has made great achievements in the cause of poverty alleviation and these have been recognized by the international community The infrastructure in poverty-stricken areas has also been continuously improved,and industrial activities have been encouraged in poverty-stricken areas to help promote self-reliance As a result of the government's actions the poor rural population has been greatly reduced,and rural people's living standards have been greatly improved Since the 18^(th) National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the central government has put forward a strategy of accurate poverty alleviation,implemented poverty alleviation projects in areas where poverty has stubbornly persisted and enhanced its efforts to finally eliminate poverty Under the vigorous leadership of the CPC,China is expected to achieve the goal of eliminating absolute poverty nationwide ahead of schedule

Poverty alleviation through e-commerce:Village involvement and demonstration policies in rural China

The diffusion of e-commerce has played a significant role in recent rural economic development in China.E-commerce is also considered as an efficient channel to alleviate poverty in rural China.Voluminous studies have investigated the contribution of e-commerce to agricultural development,yet it is lacking empirical evidence as to the effects of e-commerce on rural poverty alleviation.Since the year of 2014,in order to develop rural e-commerce,Chinese government launched the National Rural E-commerce Comprehensive Demonstration Project.This gradual involvement policy offered a natural experiment for evaluation of e-commerce.Based on village-level survey data from rural China and Heckit method,our study finds that rural e-commerce has a significantly positive effect on rural income.Moreover,the effect is inverted U-shaped for the relative-poverty villages.The estimation of the propensity scores matching model confirms that the results are robust.The following policy recommendations are proposed:(1)policy support to rural e-commerce should prioritize the povertystricken villages.By doing so,the marginal income effects of e-commerce will be maximized.(2)Investment in internet infrastructure and establishment of human resources for e-commerce in rural areas will have spillover effects,increasing rural income through the"digital dividend".

Off-farm employment and poverty alleviation in rural China

Two phenomena in the history of China's economic growth during the last four decades are the increase in the share of offfarm employment and the progress in poverty alleviation in rural China.Although both of them have been well documented in the literature,less is known about the linkage between the two.To better understand the role that off-farm employment has played in poverty alleviation in rural China is critically important not only for China but also for those countries that are trying to reduce poverty.Here,we examine the impact of off-farm employment on poverty alleviation in rural China.Using the data from two nationally representative household panel surveys(China National Rural Survey and China Rural Development Survey),this paper provides supporting evidence that off-farm employment contributes to poverty alleviation in rural China.Specifically,if household participation in off-farm employment increases by 10 percentage points,the likelihood for a nonpoor household to fall into poverty will decrease by 0.88 percentage point whereas the likelihood for a poor household to climb out of poverty will increase by 3.5 percentage points.In a word,off-employment can not only prevent rural residents to fall into poverty but also help those already in poverty climb out of it.

Elite capture,the“follow-up checks”policy,and the targeted poverty alleviation program:Evidence from rural western China

Decentralized methods for targeting poverty are widely adopted in developing countries to improve the performance of various poverty alleviation programs.A common challenge for implementing successful decentralized targeting is the existence of elite capture.China has recently implemented a nationwide decentralized poverty targeting program,the targeted poverty alleviation(TPA)policy,to achieve the national goal of eliminating absolute poverty by the end of 2020.As the largest decentralized poverty targeting program in the world,TPA's successful implementation was believed to be threatened by elite capture in some earlier reports.Since 2015,a targeting correction mechanism,called"follow-up checks"policy,has been introduced.With the"follow-up checks"policy,the elites and other ineligible households who receive benefits under TPA were removed from the program.This paper investigates the elite capture phenomenon in TPA using village census data from a poverty-stricken county in 2017-two years after implementing the"follow-up checks"policy.We find no evidence of elite capture in TPA.The elites are unlikely to become beneficiaries or receive more benefits than non-elites.Our results contradict earlier findings that reported elite capture in TPA.We argue that the reason is the accountability emphasized by the central government in the"follow-up checks"policy.Our findings imply that having proper accountability is critical for improving targeting performance by global antipoverty initiatives.

The impact of the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme on the“health poverty alleviation”of rural households in China

This study investigates the impact of the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme(NRCMS)on rural households to escape poverty.We employ the instrumental variable method,the IVProbit model,to analyze the national data from the rural-resident field survey by the China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)in 2016.Based on the large-scale data,we found that,first,the hospitalization of family members is the key factor in increasing the risk of the family falling into poverty.The NRCMS has significantly reduced the likely risk of falling into poverty.Second,the impact of the NRCMS on poverty alleviation varies among groups with different levels of income.There is no impact on the upper-middle and high-income groups;in contrast,the NRCMS has substantially improved the capacity of low-income rural families to prevent poverty due to illness,especially for the lower-middle-income group.Third,there exist significant regional differences in the impact of NRCMS on the health poverty alleviation of rural households in China.The NRCMS has successfully reduced the risk of rural households in the western region falling into poverty,simultaneously,no significant impact on those in the eastern and central regions.In order to diminish and eliminate poverty eventually and boost rural residents'capacity for income acquisition,we propose the following:raise the actual compensation ratio of the NRCMS,control the rising expense of NRCMS by promoting the payment method reform,construct the comprehensive healthcare system in the western region,strengthen the medical security for the poor in remote area,and enhance the living environment for rural residents.

Are“Internet+”tactics the key to poverty alleviation in China’s rural ethnic minority areas? Empirical evidence from Sichuan Province

China has made great efforts to alleviate poverty in rural ethnic minority areas and targeted achieving the poverty-alleviation task by the end of 2020.Aba,Ganzi,and Liangshan,three of the poorest ethnic prefectures in Sichuan Province,Southwest China,have all implemented“Internet+”tactics since 2013,which have had the positive effect of increasing family revenues by improving communication infrastructure and encouraging the large-scale use of e-commerce.This paper aims to comprehensively investigate whether“Internet+”tactics play a key role in poverty alleviation in Sichuan’s rural ethnic minority areas and to propose further measures to enhance the efficiency of e-commerce practice.To this end,we conduct an analysis using the framework of classic growth theory and use panel data from 2000 to 2018 to examine the relationship between Communication Infrastructure Investment(CII)and a set of poverty-alleviation indicators,including local GDP growth rate(LGGR),local government revenue(LGR),and per-capita income of residents(PCIR).The results indicate that strengthening CII improves the PCIR and local economic growth,playing a key role in poverty alleviation.However,the stimulation of CII on LGGR and LGR wanes as time passes.More financial and technical actions will be needed to improve the efficiency and quality of current strategies for sustainable development in those areas.

The code of targeted poverty alleviation in China:A geography perspective

Geography is suitable for the study of sustainability from a transdisciplinary perspective,which takes the human-land relationship as the core research.As a key obstacle to rural sustainability,poverty is an external manifestation of the coupling maladjustment of elements in human-land territorial systems.As the world’s largest developing country,China eradicated extreme poverty in 2020 and made significant contributions to global poverty reduc-tion.Especially over the last eight years,China has implemented a targeted poverty alleviation(TPA)strategy and has continuously promoted theoretical,organizational and institutional innovations for poverty reduction.From the perspective of geography,this paper extracts the experiences of China’s TPA strategy,represented by the"5W2H"mode.The research concludes that:(1)Precise identification,as the foundation of TPA,aims to in-troduce a registration system to obtain records of all poor households and then answer the"5W"(what,where,why,who,when)issues of the geography of poverty.(2)Precise assistance is the key of TPA,which aims to solve the issue of"how to offer help and support".The barriers to escaping poverty can be accomplished through poli-cies and measures that focus on the diverse causes of poverty and considering different situations.(3)Accurate assessments are an essential means of TPA,relevant to solve"how to measure the end of poverty alleviation",and third-party evaluations play an important role in improving the accuracy of poverty alleviation.(4)The TPA mechanism lies in reconstructing the human-land-industry structures in the impoverished areal system.It is urgent to introduce China’s successful experience and typical modes of TPA for global human-earth system coordination and sustainable development and contribute to building a community of human destiny.

China's foreign aid for global poverty alleviation:artemisinin-based combination therapies against malaria in Togo

From providing funds for the global fight against infectious diseases,to actively participating in global health security actions,to strengthening mutual cooperation in the field of health,and providing medical treatment,training and scholarships to countries in need,China’s foreign aid on global poverty alleviation is increasingly diversified and expanding in scale.Indeed,China is playing an increasingly important leading role in the global health agenda.It is worth mentioning that over the years,artemisinin compound have saved millions of lives all over the world,especially in poverty-stricken areas.China’s work mode of malaria elimination has also been written into WHO’s technical documents and recommended to other countries.Since 2007,Chinese medical staff has carried out the Artemisinin Compound Malaria Control Project in Comoros,bringing Chinese prevention and treatment programs to the local area.By 2014,Comoros had achieved zero deaths from malaria,and the number of cases had dropped by 98%.Now,this program is also extended to Togo,another African country.This article preliminarily summarizes the malaria profile in Togo and introduces China-Togo Cooperative Artemisinin Malaria Control Demonstration Project to provide a reference for better anti-malaria assistance in Togo,and also shows one of the substantive actions of China’s participation in global health governance,which contributes Chinese wisdom and offers Chinese solutions to global poverty alleviation.