The effects of social security expenditure on reducing income inequality and rural poverty in China

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.

Satisfaction of targeted poverty alleviation policies and its influencing factors based on farmers' perspective:Questionnaire survey and research on 1720 farmers in Shaanxi Province of China

Based on the first-hand data of the household survey of targeted poverty alleviation policies,five dimensions were analyzed from the residential regions,the individual characteristics,the household income characteristics,the poverty status and the farmers' relevancy to poverty alleviation policies.Through descriptive statistics and correlation analysis,the satisfaction of targeted poverty alleviation policies and its influencing factors have been inspected.It is found that the farmers,on the whole,are satisfied with the targeted poverty alleviation policies.Their satisfaction for the implementation of local poverty alleviation policies is in a moderate high level,however at the same time they expect the policies to be improved.The impoverished farmers in southern Shaanxi have higher satisfaction towards the poverty alleviation policies.Those farmers' awareness,participation,and benefit are positively related to the level of satisfaction towards policies.The implementation of the poverty alleviation from the government is not only favorable for its people,but also the country.It can greatly enhance the recognition of the government's legitimacy and local government's credibility.To formulate and implement the targeted alleviation policies,the relationship between farmers,especially impoverished farmers,and such policies should be taken into consideration.The starting point and judging criteria of poverty alleviation job should be based on questions whether the farmers know,need,and have the willing to participate in and satisfy with the policies.Those farmers' right to know,participate,benefit and judge should be protected,and it will continuously promote the efficiency of implementing poverty alleviation.

Public Service Provision and Poverty Reduction in Rural Tibet

During the recent two decades, reduced accessibility to basic public goods has become acommon problem in most of the inland provinces, and it is particularly the case in the less-developed regions. In response to this situation, the local government in Tibet has securedthe normal operation of the agricultural support system, strengthened investment in primaryeducation and basic health care, and has guaranteed social assistance to the key vulnerablegroups. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, it is considered that substantialregional aid enables the local government to perform its public function with adequate fiscalresources. Secondly, external supervision has driven the local government to maintainsufficient political will to provide low-income groups with the basic public services at lowprices or free of charge. This is essentially a type of investment-oriented income redistribution.In both the short and long term, it will contribute to reducing the economic inequality that themarket mechanism has brought about. In other words, it will help to narrow the regional,sectoral and individual economic gaps.