Social security has,as one of its primary aims,the provision of financial support to those deemed to be poor or facing the threat of poverty.Based on China's national statistical data covering social insurance,soc...Social security has,as one of its primary aims,the provision of financial support to those deemed to be poor or facing the threat of poverty.Based on China's national statistical data covering social insurance,social assistance,and social welfare between the period 1978–2018,this paper evaluates the effect of social security expenditure in reducing income inequality and rural poverty with cointegration analysis.It was found that there is a positive correlation between social security expenditure and the income gap of urban and rural residents in the long run,but the effect is very limited;nearly 99%of the changes of the urban–rural income gap come from its own contributions.Further research also shows that the elasticity of rural poverty incidence to social security expenditure is–0.2255,which indicates social security expenditure helps reduce rural absolute poverty.Based on these findings,the policy implications can be that much social security expenditure and a more equitable social security system should be encouraged.It will become one of the major anti-poverty strategies after 2020 in China when we win the battle against absolute poverty.展开更多
The current pattern of income distribution in China is the result of long- term evolu-tion. If China＇ s economic growth is a successful case in the history of human economic develop-ment,it can be said that China＇ s...The current pattern of income distribution in China is the result of long- term evolu-tion. If China＇ s economic growth is a successful case in the history of human economic develop-ment,it can be said that China＇ s income distribution is an unsuccessful case. Successful economicgrowth and unsuccessful income distribution are the characteristics o~ China＇ s economic transforma-tion and development. This is perhaps due to a vision of ＂first growth, later distribution＂ of the Chi-nese government at all levels, and development strategy of＂ sacrificing fairness for efficiency＂, and the＂selective reform＂ mode of economic transformation. Objectively speaking, as for China income dis-tribution pattern at present time, there are several reasons, such as choice of development strategy,mode of economic transformation, resistance of interest groups. The reform of income distributionsystem should be pushed forward sooner rather than later, should be fast rather than slow.展开更多
This study examines the impacts of public transfers on income inequality and poverty reduction in rural China.It uses nationally representative rural household surveys from the China Household Income Project and class...This study examines the impacts of public transfers on income inequality and poverty reduction in rural China.It uses nationally representative rural household surveys from the China Household Income Project and classifies public transfers into threetypesuniversal,pro-poor,and reimbursable transfers-to compare the impacts of eachtype of public transfer in 2013and 2018.Estimated results show that the contributions of eachtypeof publictransfertoreducing incomeinequalityweregenerally small in both 2013 and 2018.However,the effects of reimbursable transfers were the largest of the three types.We also found that the poverty-reducing effects were the largest for reimbursabletransfers,and their impactshaveconsiderably improved inthewestern region.The impacts of pro-poor transfers were intermediate but have developed notably in the central region.These findings suggest that reimbursableand pro-poortransfers contributed mainly to reducing rural poverty but the impacts were heterogeneous among regions.展开更多
The economic literature has argued for a long time that income mobility could attenuate the degree of cross-sectional inequality by offering people opportunities to improve their socio-economic position. Using the lon...The economic literature has argued for a long time that income mobility could attenuate the degree of cross-sectional inequality by offering people opportunities to improve their socio-economic position. Using the longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey （CHNS） from 1989 to 2011, we measure income mobility as the degree to which longer-term incomes are distributed more or less equally than yearly income. Five main results are emphasized. First, there is strong income mobility in rural China that partly offsets yearly income inequality. Second, income mobility has decreased since the 2000s, indicating that income distribution is becoming more rigid. Third, mobility is mainly associated with transitory income fluctuations, particularly in the two tails of the distribution. Fourth, income mobility has an equalizing effect on income distribution. Fifth, we show that non-agricultural income mobility has substantially increased over the period and that its equalizing nature has also recently increased. While the development of the non-agriculture sector in rural China was a crucial factor in explaining the increase in rural inequality until the mid-2000s, we suggest that the large-scale generalisation of such non-agricultural opportunities partly accounts for the decline in rural inequality observed since the mid-2000s.展开更多
The paper firstly explains the mechanism of decentralization on income inequality from two theoretical dimensions of internal and external budget.Based on the re-measurement of income Gini coefficient and Chinese dece...The paper firstly explains the mechanism of decentralization on income inequality from two theoretical dimensions of internal and external budget.Based on the re-measurement of income Gini coefficient and Chinese decentralization level,this paper establishes panel data model from national and regional perspective to empirically investigate the impact of Chinese decentralization on income inequality between urban and rural residents.Firstly,the promotion of budgetary income decentralization is conductive to reduce income inequality of urban and rural residents whether it is from the national or sub regional.Second,although the promotion of budgetary expenditure decentralization exacerbates the urban-rural income inequality in the national level,it could obviously reduce the urban-rural income inequality in the midwest with relatively low level of budgetary expenditure decentralization.Thirdly,the impact of extra-budgetary decentralization on income inequality is consistent,no matter in the whole country,in eastern or in western regions.This means that the extra-budgetary income decentralization makes the income inequality between urban and rural residents worse while the extra-budgetary expenditure decentralization reduces the income inequality between urban and rural residents with different degrees.Fourthly,the transfer payment,years of schooling and urban unemployment rate are conductive to narrow the income inequality between urban and rural residents while the impacts of economic development,urbanization and opening degree are obviously different in different regions.The above conclusions can not only be used for reference to further perfecting and reshaping the fair efficiency mechanism of Chinese decentralization,but also indicates the direction of the new fiscal and tax system reform.展开更多
基金financially supported by the National Social Science Fund of China(16ZDA021)the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Fund of the Ministry of Education of China(18YJA630135)。
文摘Social security has,as one of its primary aims,the provision of financial support to those deemed to be poor or facing the threat of poverty.Based on China's national statistical data covering social insurance,social assistance,and social welfare between the period 1978–2018,this paper evaluates the effect of social security expenditure in reducing income inequality and rural poverty with cointegration analysis.It was found that there is a positive correlation between social security expenditure and the income gap of urban and rural residents in the long run,but the effect is very limited;nearly 99%of the changes of the urban–rural income gap come from its own contributions.Further research also shows that the elasticity of rural poverty incidence to social security expenditure is–0.2255,which indicates social security expenditure helps reduce rural absolute poverty.Based on these findings,the policy implications can be that much social security expenditure and a more equitable social security system should be encouraged.It will become one of the major anti-poverty strategies after 2020 in China when we win the battle against absolute poverty.
文摘The current pattern of income distribution in China is the result of long- term evolu-tion. If China＇ s economic growth is a successful case in the history of human economic develop-ment,it can be said that China＇ s income distribution is an unsuccessful case. Successful economicgrowth and unsuccessful income distribution are the characteristics o~ China＇ s economic transforma-tion and development. This is perhaps due to a vision of ＂first growth, later distribution＂ of the Chi-nese government at all levels, and development strategy of＂ sacrificing fairness for efficiency＂, and the＂selective reform＂ mode of economic transformation. Objectively speaking, as for China income dis-tribution pattern at present time, there are several reasons, such as choice of development strategy,mode of economic transformation, resistance of interest groups. The reform of income distributionsystem should be pushed forward sooner rather than later, should be fast rather than slow.
基金supported financially by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science(JSPS)KAKENHI(Nos.15H03340,16K03691,and 19K01642).
文摘This study examines the impacts of public transfers on income inequality and poverty reduction in rural China.It uses nationally representative rural household surveys from the China Household Income Project and classifies public transfers into threetypesuniversal,pro-poor,and reimbursable transfers-to compare the impacts of eachtype of public transfer in 2013and 2018.Estimated results show that the contributions of eachtypeof publictransfertoreducing incomeinequalityweregenerally small in both 2013 and 2018.However,the effects of reimbursable transfers were the largest of the three types.We also found that the poverty-reducing effects were the largest for reimbursabletransfers,and their impactshaveconsiderably improved inthewestern region.The impacts of pro-poor transfers were intermediate but have developed notably in the central region.These findings suggest that reimbursableand pro-poortransfers contributed mainly to reducing rural poverty but the impacts were heterogeneous among regions.
文摘The economic literature has argued for a long time that income mobility could attenuate the degree of cross-sectional inequality by offering people opportunities to improve their socio-economic position. Using the longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey （CHNS） from 1989 to 2011, we measure income mobility as the degree to which longer-term incomes are distributed more or less equally than yearly income. Five main results are emphasized. First, there is strong income mobility in rural China that partly offsets yearly income inequality. Second, income mobility has decreased since the 2000s, indicating that income distribution is becoming more rigid. Third, mobility is mainly associated with transitory income fluctuations, particularly in the two tails of the distribution. Fourth, income mobility has an equalizing effect on income distribution. Fifth, we show that non-agricultural income mobility has substantially increased over the period and that its equalizing nature has also recently increased. While the development of the non-agriculture sector in rural China was a crucial factor in explaining the increase in rural inequality until the mid-2000s, we suggest that the large-scale generalisation of such non-agricultural opportunities partly accounts for the decline in rural inequality observed since the mid-2000s.
文摘The paper firstly explains the mechanism of decentralization on income inequality from two theoretical dimensions of internal and external budget.Based on the re-measurement of income Gini coefficient and Chinese decentralization level,this paper establishes panel data model from national and regional perspective to empirically investigate the impact of Chinese decentralization on income inequality between urban and rural residents.Firstly,the promotion of budgetary income decentralization is conductive to reduce income inequality of urban and rural residents whether it is from the national or sub regional.Second,although the promotion of budgetary expenditure decentralization exacerbates the urban-rural income inequality in the national level,it could obviously reduce the urban-rural income inequality in the midwest with relatively low level of budgetary expenditure decentralization.Thirdly,the impact of extra-budgetary decentralization on income inequality is consistent,no matter in the whole country,in eastern or in western regions.This means that the extra-budgetary income decentralization makes the income inequality between urban and rural residents worse while the extra-budgetary expenditure decentralization reduces the income inequality between urban and rural residents with different degrees.Fourthly,the transfer payment,years of schooling and urban unemployment rate are conductive to narrow the income inequality between urban and rural residents while the impacts of economic development,urbanization and opening degree are obviously different in different regions.The above conclusions can not only be used for reference to further perfecting and reshaping the fair efficiency mechanism of Chinese decentralization,but also indicates the direction of the new fiscal and tax system reform.
