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.

Analysis on the Path of Local Universities’Intervention in the Sustainable Development of Poor Rural Areas in the Era of Post-Poverty Alleviation:Taking Sichuan University of Science and Engineering as an Example

China has entered the era of post-poverty alleviation,which effectively links poverty alleviation achievements with rural revitalization strategies.In the era of post-poverty alleviation,in order to effectively promote the sustainable development of poor rural areas,local colleges and universities should actively nurture the self-development skills of the needy.Local colleges and universities should guide the transformation of ideas and concepts,scientifically optimize the allocation of poverty alleviation resources,improve the interest linkage mechanism between colleges and universities,strengthen the investigation and analysis of poverty alleviation projects,improve the convergence of assistance and practice,actively create a good spiritual and cultural environment,uphold the mission of helping cadres,attach importance to the support for the development of characteristic industries,and lastly,promote the convergence of rural revitalization strategies.

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.

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".

Does poverty-alleviation-based industry development improve farmers'livelihood capital?

Targeted poverty alleviation is a unique approach adopted in China to help achieve the vision of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and the"Chinese Dream".Industrial development as a means of poverty alleviation is an integral part of the"Five-pronged Poverty Alleviation Measures"Project of targeted poverty alleviation,and a critical foundation for other poverty alleviation measures.In this study,a comprehensive evaluation method was used to measure farmers'livelihood based on the framework of sustainable livelihood.Specifically,the effects of industrial development on farmers'livelihood capital were estimated by employing the propensity score matching combined with the difference-in-differences(PSM-DID)approach.Findings suggest that industrial development had a significantly positive effect on the livelihood capital of farmers.Industrial development can significantly enhance farmers'human,social and financial capital,while it cannot significantly affect the natural and physical capital.Industrial development had heterogeneous effects on farmers'livelihood capital,more efficiently impacting on the non-poor than the poor.The effects on farmers'livelihood capital varied across regions,with Guizhou experiencing a larger effect than Sichuan.However,the effect was insignificant for farmers in Gansu.To improve farmers'livelihood capital,it is necessary to take measures to strengthen their human capital,promote the innovation of financial products,and make good use of their social capital;it is also essential to strengthen the support of industrial development to the poor.

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.

Analyzing Influencing Factors of Rural Poverty in Typical Poverty Areas of Hainan Province: A Case Study of Lingao County

Rural poverty and poverty reduction are not only the focal issues that have attracted worldwide attention, but also the vital issues on people's livelihood that has attached great importance and aimed to be solved by the central and local governments of China. Based on the survey data of 354 farming households, this paper, taking the national poverty county of Lingao County, Hainan Province for an example, examined the characteristics of rural poverty of the county. Moreover, this paper established the spatial lag model(SLM) from five dimensions, namely, status of the household head, household structure, health status, income composition and traffic accessibility, to analyze the main influencing factors of rural poverty according to the values of Moran's I and the diagnosis of spatial dependence of the OLS model. It is found that the poor farming households gathered mainly in five towns in the north and southwest of the county, and the rural poverty have the characteristics of low educational level of the heads, more minor children, high population of farming peasants, high incidence of disease and low proportion of household wage-equivalent income. The results also showed that the variables such as the number of minor children, the number of migrant worker, the number of farming peasants and the proportion of wage-equivalent income have significant effectiveness on rural poverty, while the status of the household head, health status and traffic accessibility have little influence. It is an important way to realize the goal of poverty alleviation by controlling the number of farmers' fertility, strengthening the vocational skills training of farmers, vigorously developing specialization and large-scale agriculture and increasing the employment opportunities of farmers.

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.

Rehabilitation and Sustainable Use Pattern of Rocky-desertified Land in Southwest China’s Poverty-stricken Karst Mountainous Areas——A Case Study in Benggu Township, Xichou County, Yunnan, China

The rocky desert in a karst area directly causes the lack of soil, water and forest, hence leading to the poverty there. In 1990, the villagers from the Muzhe Village in Benggu Township, Xichou County, Yunnan declared a war against rocky desert in an attempt to ask the fields for more yields. They invented a distinctive land rehabilitation and sustainable use pattern called “transforming heavenand earth” that had been practiced in Southwest China’s karst areas. The key mechanism of the pattern was to develop terraced fields with well conserved soil, water and fertility by exploding rocks in the fields, building stone walls, gathering more soil, and improving soil quality and productivity for the fields in combination with building of irrigation facilities and roads, as well as with forestation and agriculture structure adjustment. The purpose of the pattern was to alleviate poverty in the karst areas by improving soil productivity and promoting agriculturaldevelopment. A typical area was studied with the help of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and the pattern was carried out there for fifteen years, have produced excellent ecological benefits and good economic benefits. Its application in the area approved that it was a sustainable land use pattern for rocky desert areas.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Advances in Studies about Rural Financial Poverty Alleviation from the Perspective of Targeted Poverty Alleviation

With the objective of building a well-off society in an all-round way reaching the decisive stage,poverty alleviation enters the final stage,and rural financial poverty alleviation is increasingly becoming a hot topic of various circles of society. In order to accelerate the poverty alleviation and provide references and recommendations for further development of theory and practice of financial poverty alleviation,this paper made an overview of the organization system,operation mechanism and service products of rural financial poverty alleviation,elaborated the development path of financial poverty alleviation,and came up with recommendations for financial poverty alleviation.

Forestry development to reduce poverty and improve the environment

Poverty reduction is a world-wide concern.At the end of 2017,according to the rural poverty standard in China,there were 30.46 million poor in China.However,complete poverty alleviation by the end of 2020 had been achieved.This is significant and complicated,especially as poverty-stricken areas and ecologically fragile areas overlap.During the process of poverty alleviation,the development of forestry projects was not only conducive to improving the environment but also an important way to reduce poverty.Therefore,based on an analysis of the causes of poverty-stricken areas,this study examined successful cases in different regions and proposed ways to promote economic growth:providing state subsidies for tree planting and forest maintenance;developing undergrowth economy;and/or initiating an industrial chain.It also introduces principles to promote forestry progress,according to local conditions,keeping a balance between economic development and the environment.This study provides effective ways to promote forestry development and rural poverty alleviation.

Research on Strategies for the Development of Selenium-enriched Tea in Ankang City of Shaanxi Province in the Context of Targeted Poverty Alleviation

As an important symbol of agricultural and sideline products in Ankang City,selenium-enriched tea affects the development of regional agricultural and sideline industries.In this paper,the development status and problems of the selenium-enriched tea products of Ankang were analyzed in terms of capital,technology,management and sales mode.This research is of positive significance to the development of selenium-enriched products and other agricultural and sideline products of health value,and plays a very important role in promoting the cultivation of village-level characteristic industries and the effective realization of targeted poverty alleviation.

Expanding telemedicine to reduce the burden on the healthcare systems and poverty in Africa for a post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic reformation

The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)global public health emergency,has exposed the fragility of health systems.Access to healthcare became a scarce commodity as healthcare providers and resource-poor popula­tions became victims of the novel corona virus.Therefore,this study focuses on Africa’s readiness to integrate telemedicine into the weak health systems and its adoption may help alleviate poor healthcare and poverty after COVID-19.We conducted a narrative review through different search strategies in Scopus on January 20,2021,to identify available literature reporting implementation of various telemedicine modes in Africa from January 1,2011 to December 31,2020.We summarized 54 studies according to geographies,field,and implementation methods.The results show a willingness to adopt telemedicine in the resource-poor settings and hard-to-reach populations,which will bring relief to the inadequate healthcare systems and alleviate poverty of those who feel the burden of healthcare cost the most.With adequate government financing,telemedicine promises to enhance the treating of communicable and non-communicable diseases as well as support health infrastructure.It can also alleviate poverty among vulnerable groups and hard-to-reach communities in Africa with adequate government financing.However,given the lack of funding in Africa,the challenges in implementing telemedicine require global and national strategies before it can yield promising results.This is especially true in regards to alleviating the multidimensionality of poverty in post-COVID-19 Africa.

Contribution of ecotourism to poverty alleviation in Nyanga,Zimbabwe

This paper assesses the contribution of ecotourism to local communities and the environment.Livelihoods of local communities are examined to understand the socioeconomic situation of people living in proximity to ecotourism areas and their participation in ecotourism activities. The impact of ecotourism on the environment in Nyanga is also examined. The paper employs both literature review(secondary data) and a field survey(primary data) to achieve these objectives. To gather socioeconomic data of households and tourist traits, questionnaires were administered to120 households and 30 tourists in the study area. Key informant interviews were held in the survey to gather expert knowledge about ecotourism trends and environmental data in the area.Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Descriptive and inferential analyses were used for quantitative data while content and structural-functional analyses were used for qualitative data. The research revealed that ecotourism offers the highest salaries when compared to other sources of formal employment. Ecotourism activities were shown to positively impact the environment through the protection, preservation, and management of natural resources. The study concludes that ecotourism is a useful and sustainable poverty alleviation strategy which has not yet been fully exploited in Zimbabwe.