scholarly journals The Brink of Poverty: Implementation of a Social Assistance Programme in Rural China

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Kuhn ◽  
Stephan Brosig ◽  
Linxiu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Distribution Method ◽  
Implementation Gap ◽  
Assistance Programme ◽  
Monetary Transfers ◽  
Additional Monitoring

The Rural Minimum Living Standard is an important component of social security in rural areas of China, as it provides social assistance to poor rural households. The country's size and large development heterogeneities, however, make the policy's implementation a challenging task. Using quantitative and qualitative data from rural households and administrators in five provinces, we identify the pitfalls of multi-level implementation along with the difficulty of measuring income in rural, underdeveloped areas as key sources of an implementation gap that has led to a considerable degree of misallocation of monetary transfers. Changes in the budgeting process and the distribution method might improve the anti-poverty effect of social assistance without having to carry out additional monitoring.

scholarly journals Poverty reduction in rural China: Does the digital finance matter?

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0261214
Author(s):  
Boou Chen ◽  
Chunkai Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Financial Policies ◽  
Variable Approach ◽  
Reduction Effect ◽  
Financial Technology

As digital finance is widely spread and applied in China, this new format of financial technology could become a new way to reduce poverty in rural areas. By matching digital financial indexes of the prefectural-level cities with microdata on rural households from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2017, we find that digital finance significantly suppresses absolute poverty and relative poverty among rural households in China, which is supported by a series of robustness tests, such as the instrumental variable approach, using alternative specifications, and excluding extreme observations. Additionally, we provide evidence that the poverty reduction effect of digital finance is likely to be explained by alleviating credit constraints and information constraints, broadening social networks, and promoting entrepreneurship. Our findings further complement the research field on financial poverty reduction and offer insights for the development of public financial policies of poverty reduction in other countries, especially in some developing countries.

scholarly journals Why the Uncertain Term Occurs in the Farmland Lease Market: Evidence from Rural China

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baoling Zou ◽  
Biliang Luo
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Agricultural Labor ◽  
Land Loss ◽  
Pension Insurance ◽  
Agricultural Insurance ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Informal Contracts ◽  
Low Efficiency

Urbanization and aging of the agricultural population lead to the insufficient supply of agricultural labor and land being idle in rural China, calling for the farmland lease market to maintain sustainable and efficient use of farmland. However, rural households tend to agree on an uncertain term for farmland leasing in/out, which leads to low efficiency and land loss in agriculture. Therefore, using the survey data collected from 2704 rural households and a logistic regression model, we examine the effects of risk faced by the rural households on the likelihood of the uncertain term for farmland leasing. Results reveal that a large share of labor with low education and high income increase the likelihood of an uncertain term for farmland leasing out activities, while a high disaster frequency, a high education of household and a high share of agricultural income increase the probability of an uncertain term for farmland leasing in activities. Additionally, leasing farmland to/from relatives or neighbors, informal contracts, low rent and the lack of pension insurance also increase the likelihood of the uncertain term for farmland leasing out/in activities. Findings suggest that more attention should be paid to education, agricultural insurance and social security system in rural areas.

scholarly journals Rural Land Market, Livelihood and Welfare among Households in Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Olubunmi O. Alawode
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Land Market ◽  
Land Markets ◽  
Rural Land ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Crop Farming ◽  
Southwest Nigeria

With rapid population growth and resulting increased land fragmentation, landholding becomes smaller, negatively impacting on the living standard of rural households. Thus, the need to understand the potentials of land markets to improve rural households’ access to land through the adjustment of households’ landholding for livelihood activities, and its consequent effect on their welfare. This paper examined the relationship between rural land market, livelihood and welfare among households in Oyo state, Southwest Nigeria. Using a structured questionnaire, a survey was conducted on a sample of 200 respondents, who were selected through multistage sampling procedure. Descriptive statistics, Land Market Index (LMI), Tobit model and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the primary data. Results show that majority (74.0%) of households were involved in crop farming with mean income of ₦53 833.33 (±26 784.560), which was relatively higher than livestock ₦31 567.08 (±20 897.47). The mean total monthly expenditure was ₦26 548.50 (±8945.5692). Identified land transaction methods include purchase (76.3%), lease (19.8%), and rent (3.9%). On the average, 97.0% of land held by households were acquired through market (LMI=0.97). Sex and household status had significant positive effects on the extent of households’ participation in land market at p<0.01. Also, LMI, crop farming and livestock farming had significant positive effect on households’ welfare. Obtaining land through market for livelihood activities promotes households’ welfare. Rural land market and livelihood activities have significant positive effects on the welfare of farmers. There is need for Government to facilitate formal land markets in rural areas.

scholarly journals Elderly Poverty in Vietnam: Trends and Determinants

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 526-543
Author(s):  
Linh Hoang Vu ◽  
◽  
Thuy-Anh Nguyen ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Ethnic Disparities ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
Elderly Poverty ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

Adopting data from the 2010 and 2016 Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys, this paper identifies factors of elderly poverty incidences and depth in Vietnam. Our analysis shows that overall, elderly poverty is lower than the overall poverty headcount in Vietnam. Yet, some elderly groups are more vulnerable to poverty than others. In particular, the elderly living in rural areas are more susceptible to poverty than those living in urban areas. The ethnic minority elderly are likewise more vulnerable to poverty than those who belong to the Kinh-Hoa ethnic majority. We found several determining factors for elderly poverty in urban and rural areas, including region, ethnicity, education, and household age composition. Remittances and social assistance are also crucial in reducing elderly poverty in rural areas. With these findings, this study proposes several policy implications, including improving the social assistance support for the elderly, reducing regional and ethnic disparities, and supporting the employment of older people.

Synthesizing disparate ideas: How a Chinese model of social assistance was forged

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lutz Leisering ◽  
Tao Liu ◽  
Tobias ten Brink
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Policy Experimentation ◽  
Chinese Model

In 1993, the Shanghai government introduced a minimum income security program, causing contagious imitative behaviors in scores of local pilot projects in China. Invigorated by such local policy experiments, the central government in 1999 set up a Minimum Living Standard Scheme covering all urban regions and, from 2007, rural areas. In the process of designing this scheme, the Chinese epistemic social policy community translated foreign ideas into the national context to facilitate the social assistance reform through policy experimentation and reinterpretation of external ideas. This article argues that Chinese actors in the field of social assistance have synthesized disparate ideas from two world regions – the United States and Western Europe – and from Chinese traditions to forge a Chinese model of social assistance. It thus complements the existing literature on diffusion, which tends to assume that countries import or adapt a ready-made policy model from another country or from an international organization.

An Analysis of Restraints on Effective Demand for Loans in Rural China

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Wenjie Ma ◽  
Minxin He ◽  
Xinyu Zhong ◽  
Shengsong Huang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Effective Demand ◽  
Second Child ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
First Choice

China’s overall economic growth is, to a great extent, hindered by the lack of economic growth in rural areas. Based on data from the Thousand-Village Survey (2015) of 31 provinces conducted by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, we conduct this empirical study to analyze the current state of rural financial services and the factors influencing effective demand for loans in rural China. Looking at the demand side, in 2014, only 13.91% farmers had loans, and only 15.53% of them made financial institutions their first choice when they needed loans. Clearly, there is still much to do with regard to inclusive finance. From the perspective of the supply side, only 43.86% of dispersed loans can be categorized as productive loans, further reflecting that the financial services industry does not provide strong support for rural economic growth. Further study shows that the main factors influencing effective demand for productive loans are the population age structure and the rate at which migrant workers return home. Therefore, the "Second-Child" policy and policies that encourage migrant workers to go back home to start businesses are of vital importance in order to raise effective financial demand in rural China.

Growth of Rural Indebtedness in Punjab

2020 ◽  
pp. 336-341
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Utilisation Pattern ◽  
Agricultural Labourers

The problem of indebtedness among the rural households of Punjab was become more serious in the last two decades. A large number of studies were carried out in India and abroad to look into the problem of rural indebtedness and its consequences but most of these studies are either based upon a very small sample of a few districts or cover the farmers only. The present study would be wider in scope as it was also included artisans, agricultural labourers (non- cultivators) along with the farmers (cultivators). This study analysed the situation of Punjab as a whole and district wise analysis was done. Therefore, in the present study, an attempt was made to analyse the growth of indebtedness among the rural households in Punjab and attempt was made to explain the utilisation pattern of loan used by rural households and tried to trace out how the situation of household indebtedness in the Punjab evolved and changed over the course of about ten years. The study will be helpful to planners, academicians, researchers as well as policymakers for solving the problem of indebtedness among rural households for the betterment of the society as a whole. It is suggested that encouragement should be given to subsidiary occupations, improvement in access to health at subsidised rate in rural areas to curb the indebtedness and to monitor the informal mechanism of credit by Government and financial institutions along with availability of the appropriate delivery of credit into the agricultural as well as non-agricultural sector of rural areas by eliminating costly sources of money lenders for the accurate functioning of the economy.

Feminisation of Multidimensional Poverty in Rural Odisha

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surya Narayan Biswal ◽  
◽  
S. K. Mishra ◽  
M. K. Sarangi ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty ◽  
Cumulative Distribution ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty Index ◽  
Order Stochastic Dominance ◽  
The Individual

UNDP’s 2030 agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasized gender equality in augmenting human capital and alleviating poverty. For eradication of extreme poverty and building resilience for persons who are vulnerable to poverty, SDGs calls for a pro-poor and gender-sensitive policy framework. In this context, a gender-based study on multi-dimensional aspects of poverty is highly significant. Extant literature reveals that females are more deprived in different dimensions of poverty such as education, health, living standard, empowerment, environment, autonomy and social relationship. The present study is conducted with the basic objective of examining feminization of poverty in rural areas of Jagatsinghapur district of Odisha. Seven socio-economic dimensions comprising sixteen indicators have been taken into consideration to construct the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) using the Alkire-Foster (AF) Method at the individual level. The novelty of the study lies in analyzing MPI at the individual level for rural Odisha. Higher female deprivation is observed across social groups and all occupation categories except services. Dummy variable regression analysis also supports the major findings of the study. Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function satisfies strict first-order stochastic dominance condition and substantiates the feminisation of poverty at each level of poverty cut-off across all social groups and occupational categories except for services. The findings of the study have significant implications for developing suitable policies for gender equalization and poverty alleviation.

scholarly journals Does Social Support Affect the Health of the Elderly in Rural China? A Meta-Analysis Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (18) ◽  
pp. 3471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natuya Zhuori ◽  
Yu Cai ◽  
Yan Yan ◽  
Yu Cui ◽  
Minjuan Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Meta Regression ◽  
The Impact

As the trend of aging in rural China has intensified, research on the factors affecting the health of the elderly in rural areas has become a hot issue. However, the conclusions of existing studies are inconsistent and even contradictory, making it difficult to form constructive policies with practical value. To explore the reasons for the inconsistent conclusions drawn by relevant research, in this paper we constructed a meta-regression database based on 65 pieces of relevant literature published in the past 25 years. For more valid samples to reduce publication bias, we also set the statistical significance of social support to the health of the elderly in rural areas as a dependent variable. Finally, combined with multi-dimensional social support and its implications for the health of the elderly, meta-regression analysis was carried out on the results of 171 empirical studies. The results show that (1) subjective support rather than objective support can have a significant impact on the health of the elderly in rural areas, and there is no significant difference between other dimensions of social support and objective support; (2) the health status of the elderly in rural areas in samples involving western regions is more sensitive to social support than that in samples not involving the western regions; (3) among the elderly in rural areas, social support for the older male elderly is more likely to improve their health than that for the younger female elderly; and (4) besides this, both data sources and econometric models greatly affect the heterogeneity of the effect of social support on the health of the elderly in rural areas, but neither the published year nor the journal is significant. Finally, relevant policies and follow-up studies on the impact of social support on the health of the elderly in rural areas are discussed.

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