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.

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 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.

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.

On the Subjectivity Spirit of Farmers in Targeted Poverty Alleviation

Farmers’subjectivity spirit is the fundamental political and ethical spirit of targeted poverty alleviation.A standardized analysis based on the whole process of targeted poverty alleviation easily reveals that the subjectivity spirit of farmers can be summarized into the spirit of extensive equality of participation,the spirit of complete standardization of procedures,and the spirit of seeking benefits for people as a result.However,the current work on targeted poverty alleviation has confronted with various hidden worries about the farmers’subjectivity dilemma,which leads to the alienation of poverty alleviation work.The key way only to solve the problem is to cultivate the farmers’subjectivity culture and integrate it into the whole process of targeted poverty alleviation.

Minority Rural Tourism Development Planning Based on Targeted Poverty Alleviation: A Case Study of Chaikeng She Village in Jiaocheng District of Ningde City, Fujian Province, China

Developing tourism to help ethnic minorities' rural areas get rid of poverty and achieve prosperity is one path for targeted poverty alleviation in the ethnic rural regions with economic backwardness. Ethnic minorities' rural areas have benefited from the national poverty alleviation policies and subsidies, the economy has made certain progress and the ethic minorities' living standard has been improved to a certain extent. However, the economic and social development still lags behind overall. Research and practice have proved that the ethnic minorities' rural tourism development planning is a forward-looking option for minority villages to implement poverty alleviation, get rid of poverty and become better off and achieve sustainable development.

Present Situation,Problems and Countermeasures of Targeted Poverty Alleviation in Shaxi Township of Lichuan City

Poverty is a major factor restricting the economic and social development of all countries in the world.Eliminating poverty and improving people's livelihood have always been the long-cherished goals of mankind.This paper elaborated the targeted poverty alleviation work in Shaxi Township of Lichuan City mainly from three aspects:targeted identification,targeted assistance,and targeted exit.Besides,it analyzed the problems existing in the practice of targeted poverty alleviation in Shaxi Township,and put forward corresponding countermeasures and recommendations.

“The Source of Flowing Water”:How Targeted Poverty Alleviation Helps China’s Rural Poor Access Credit

Based on the China Household Finance Survey(CHFS)data of 2011-2017,this paper investigated the effects of China’s targeted poverty alleviation policy on rural credit access and amount using the“difference-in-differences”methodology.This study found that the targeted poverty alleviation policy increased the availability and amount of formal credit to poor households and reduced the proportion and amount of their borrowing through informal channels,and that the effects increased amid the policy’s implementation over time.This paper further found that the policy effects were more significant for China’s western regions,reflecting a positive role of targeted poverty alleviation in coordinating pro-poor finance across regions.Compared with poor counties,poor households from non-poor counties experienced a greater increase in their probability and amount of formal credit access,reflecting China’s approach of reducing regional poverty before targeting more precisely at individual poor households.This paper also uncovered that no significant“elite capture”effect had existed in the allocation of formal agricultural credit under targeted poverty alleviation,but extremely poor households experienced no significant change in their access to formal credit.While the targeted poverty alleviation policy has helped create a sound rural credit market,it should further improve access to formal finance for extremely poor households.

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.

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.

The Content and Approaches of Human Resource Development in Impoverished Rural Regions in the Context of Targeted Poverty Alleviation

Poverty alleviation requires knowledge support. Targeted poverty alleviation, aiming to tackle rural poverty, needs to be supported by corresponding rural human resource development. Currently, China's human resource development in impoverished rural regions is faced with some major problems; a huge population distributed over a vast area, a lack of technological and cultural attainment, obsolete concepts, obsolete technical resources, and a significant gap between rural and urban education attainment. Rural human resource development, which is geared to targeted poverty alleviation, includes a variety of impoverished rural population-oriented trainings, such as intelligence development, skills training, modern professionalism &work attitude cultivation, physical & mental health education, as well as modern lifestyle & civilized manners guidance. Targeted poverty alleviation should be equipped with mechanisms of comprehensive layout & planning, coordinated advancement of development content and implementation, and a mechanism of organization & input. The approaches to the advancement of rural human resource development are enhancing basic education, building a system of vocational education and training, raising the social security level and improving the supporting mechanisms.

An Unconventional Model of Poverty Alleviation Directed by the Human Rights Approaches:based on an Observation of the Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy and Its Practice in Weixian County of Hebei Province

Against the background that poverty alleviation is increasingly linked to the human rights-based approach in the international community,an issue arises concerning how to assess the targeted poverty alleviation strategy in China from a human rights perspective.The human rights-based approach emphasiz connecting poverty alleviation with those rights recognized in international human rights conventions,with a focus on the notion of multi-dimensional poverty and the empowerment and accountability in the process of poverty alleviation.The targeted poverty alleviation in China embodies the notion of capability poverty and adopts a multi-dimensional poverty alleviation strategy.The principles of empowerment and accountability have also been implemented to a large extent.All of the elements existing in the targeted poverty alleviation model such as super political will,government dominance,targeted implementation and unconventional mobilization are critical to ensuring the eventual success of poverty alleviation and human rights protection therein.Generally speaking,some deficiencies in respect of empowerment and rule of law in targeted poverty alleviation will not hinder the overall effectiveness of poverty alleviation.Nevertheless,it will be very helpful to reinforce the empowerment and rule of law in order to insure the fairness and sustainability in poverty alleviation,especially in the inevitable transition from an unconventional model ofp overty alleviation to a conventional one in future.

Repairing damaged reputations through targeted poverty alleviation:Evidence from private companies’strategies to deal with negative media coverage

When negative media coverage causes reputational crises,companies must find suitable tools to repair their reputation and reverse their negative image.As a CSR activity with political-and livelihood-related implications,targeted poverty alleviation may be an effective tool.Using data on negative media coverage of Chinese A-share private listed companies,we examine whether companies engage in targeted poverty alleviation in response to reputational crises caused by negative media coverage.We find that negative media coverage leads private companies to engage more actively and intensively in targeted poverty alleviation because of the significant increase in public attention to the bad news.These companies must urgently rebuild their positive image using targeted poverty alleviation to resolve their public opinion crisis.Further analyses suggest that original and in-depth negative media coverage is more likely to cause companies’active participation in targeted poverty alleviation.In addition,negative media coverage is more likely to lead companies to engage in targeted poverty alleviation when they are in heavily polluting industries or face greater pressure from external investors.Finally,we find that active involvement in targeted poverty alleviation helps companies improve their market reputation and thus effectively manage public relations crises caused by negative media coverage.

The Study Dynamics of Accurately Targeted Poverty Alleviation

The accurately targeted poverty alleviation has gradually become one of the important research directions in the field of poverty research. The existing foreign and domestic studies concerning about the accurately targeted poverty alleviation are few and mainly focus on the aspects such as poverty object recognition, target for poverty alleviation, and fund embarking; a complete system has not yet been formed for the relevant studies. On the basis of analyzing and reviewing relevant studies on the accurately targeted poverty alleviation at home and abroad, a further research direction for the accurately targeted poverty alleviation is proposed in this paper.

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.

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.

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.

Shibadong’s Experience in Poverty Alleviation

Shibadong Village, the birthplace of the “targeted poverty alleviation”campaign, has set a model for China’s poverty alleviation and elimination efforts. Based on data obtained from long-term field research, this paper illustrates Shibadong’s journey out of poverty by outlining its main practices of targeted poverty alleviation, and summarizing the learnings that are worth sharing. Guided by the “targeted poverty alleviation” strategy,measures were taken to unleash the endogenous development force of the village by precisely identifying targets, developing targeted rural industries, implementing specific relief plans tailored to each household, and bringing cohesion among different social forces.Thanks to these efforts, the village has undergone tremendous changes in many areas such as civility level, living conditions, industrial development, social governance, infrastructure and public services. This paper argues that Shibadong’s experience has universal applicability for poverty elimination. We believe that by building an enabling government,an effective market and an organic society, and giving full play to the synergistic effects of the three, poor villages can break out of the dilemma caused by the “triple failures” and achieve modern rural governance and development.

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.

Social Work Involved in Targted Poverty Alleviation: From Individual Aid to System Change

The development of social work is to some extent a history of the struggle against poverty. Social work enabled targeted poverty alleviation aims to form a two–way force to implement targeted poverty alleviation policies in a bid to create a new situation featuring top–down policy guidance and bottom–up social engagement. Social work enabled targeted poverty alleviation addresses the bureaucratic defects of government dominance, upgrades the narrow conception of targeted poverty alleviation as individual aid, and pays more attention to the interactions between the poor and environmental elements and the interactions within and between systems from the perspective of eco–system. In practice, this type of poverty alleviation is manifested as social work driven integral specialized poverty alleviation. By organically combining the four systems of subjects, service objects, work processes and implementation results, it advances current targeted poverty alleviation from the mid–shallow level to the deep level. It is expected to fulfill the intrinsic policy objectives of targeted poverty alleviation and explore a supporting system for realizing the modernization of national governance system and capacity in rural areas.