Urban-Rural Divide and Policy Orientation: Peasants Flowing into Cities vs Capital Flowing Down to Rural Areas

IntroductionThe prolonged pursuit of a macroeconomic policy biased toward cities and industrial sectors has enlarged the differences between urban and rural areas. This is expressed in the gap in investment, which results in the gap in output, income, consumption and education. Such a wide gap has cut off the flow of goods and capital between the urban and rural markets, depriving agriculture and rural areas of their self-development capabilities. Peasants have     

Evaluating the Redistributive Effect of Social Security Programs in China over the Past 30 Years

China has improved its social security system in recent decades,with the aim of achieving universal coverage and improving the equity of income distribution.Based on data from the five rounds of Chinese Household Income Project surveys from 1988 to 2018,this paper examines the long-term redistributive effects of social security programs in China.Our results show that social security programs have reduced income inequality consistently,and the positive redistributive effects have been improving for the past 30 years.Social security transfers have had an increasingly essential role in rural areas,especially after 2002 when China started to establish a comprehensive rural social safety net and expanded the coverage of the social security program.The redistributive efficiency of the social security system has also increased recently.     

Roots of Tomorrow＇s Digital Divide： Documenting Computer Use and Internet Access in China＇s Elementary Schools Today

This paper explores China＇s digital divide, with a focus on differences in access to computers, learning software, and the Internet at school and at home among different groups of elementary school children in China. The digital divide is examined in four different dimensions： （i） between students in urban public schools and students in rural public schools; （ii） between students in rural public schools and students in private migrant schools; （iii） between migrant students in urban public schools and migrant students in private migrant schools; and （iv） between students in Han-dominated rural areas and students in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities. Using data from a set of large-scale surveys in schools in different parts of the country, we find a wide gap between computer and Internet access of students in rural areas and those in urban public schools. The gap widens further when comparing urban students to students from minority areas. The divide is also large between urban and rural schools when examining the quality of computer instruction and access to learning software. Migration does not appear to eliminate the digital divide, unless migrant families are able to enroll their children in urban public schools. The digital divide in elementary schools may have implications for future employment, education and income inequality in China.     

How Aging and Intergeneration Disparity Influence Consumption Inequality in China

Concurrent with market economic reforms, China is facing an increasing income gap and an aging population. The question addressed in the present paper is how much aging contributes to the rising disparity in consumption. Based on the model established by Ohtake and Saito （1998）, our study shows that cohort effects contribute close to 60percent of the rising consumption inequality, while approximately lO percent is the result of aging. The growth of aggregate consumption inequality caused by the cohort effect has various implications. Strengthening the redistribution system, especially the tax system, may enable the economy to avoid further increases in income inequality.     

Guest Editors’ Introduction

China has entered a new stage of social and economic development,having eliminated absolute poverty by the end of 2020.Common prosperity will be a new goal in this new development stage.There are domestic and international reasons for China to promote common prosperity as a new development goal.Domestically,the reform and opening-up policies over the past 40 years have promoted rapid economic growth and a considerable improvement in Chinese living standards but the problem of unbalanced development has not been solved effectively.This problem is manifested in all aspects of social and economic development,including excessive income inequality and unfair income distribution,regional disparities,a significantly large urban-rural gap,and unequal access to basic public services among different population groups.     

Migration Experience of Village Leaders and Local Economic Development： Evidence from Rural China

This paper examines the impact of migration experience of village leaders on local economic development,based on the village-level data of the 2005 China General Social Survey.Our results show that the human capital of village leaders accumulated during the migration period has had a positive effect on per capita net income and per capita non-agricultural income in rural China.The migration experience of village leaders also plays a positive role in entrepreneurial activities in rural regions.From a policy perspective,these findings call attention to the importance of harnessing potential benefits of return migration to local economic development in rural China.     

Regional Inequalities and Its Determinants in Rural China：An Empirical Study Based on Agricultural Household Level Data

Using 1000 agricultural household survey data in 2002, this paper employs Gini coefficient and the Theft index to explore the regional inequalities and its determinants in rural China. We first measure the overall rural income inequality, and then decompose it by region and by factor （source of income） respectively. Third, we construct an econometric model to analyze the determinants affecting the income inequality indexes. Our main finding is that although Gini coefficient and Theft index is at a normal level, we need to point out that there exists a risk that the income inequality may climb up with the misbalanced growth of regional economy without taking adequate policy into account. At the end of this paper, policy suggestion is given： governments should offer more financial support for the less developed rural areas, where income level is quite low. An alternative choice is to enhance the transfer payment for the low-income people, and help them to get access to profitable economic project. In the long run, it is especially important to strengthen the farmers＇ professional training, and to increase their migrant ability to nonagricultural career.     

Property Tax in Urban China

This paper examines China＇s urban housing sector and proposes that property, tax reform be undertaken. Specifically, China should significantly reduce taxes on transactions and introduce property taxes during the possession of houses. This will increase housing affordability as a result of lower transaction costs, reduce speculation because of the higher opportunity cost of holding vacant houses, stabilize the fiscal system by generating more sustainable tax revenue, and improve the efficiency and fairness of the property tax system according to the principles of ＂ability-to-pay＂ and ＂user pays＂.     

Deficit Estimation and Welfare Effects after the 1994 Fiscal Reform in China： Evidence from the County Level

Using simple statistical analysis of count-level budgetary data from across all of China＇s counties, the present paper examines whether the post-1994 fiscal decentralization has affected redistribution at the count-level. The new fiscal system has been less able to narrow inter-county dispersion in ftscal imbalances than the old one, even after taking intergovernmental transfer payments into account. Although with the post-1994 system there has been a modest increase in per capita welfare spending in all counties on average, much of the new-found fiscal resources have been spent on salary and administrative expenses rather than spending on public goods. Therefore, it is imperative that the reform of China＇s tax system is intensified.     

Trading Land Development Rights under a Planned Land Use System： The ＂Zhejiang Model＂

China＇ s state planned land use system, including regulations such as setting planned quotas for land use, basic cropland preservation, and pursuing a balance between the conversion of arable land into non-agricultural use and the supplement of new agricultural land, has substantially constrained the economic growth of industrial provinces in China. This article explores the innovative reforms adopted by Zhejiang Province through land development rights （LDR） transfer within a locality and LDR trading across localities. We argue that there is a ＂Zhejiang model of LDR transferring and trading,＂ which, we believe, has significant implications not only for fostering an efficiency-enhancing market for land development rights and agricultural land preservation, but also for optimal use of land and a more balanced regional development. One important policy issue relating to China＇s rural land system is that under China＇ s land requisition system, farmers are usually under compensated for urban land-taking.     

Decomposing Income Inequality and Policy Implications in Rural China

Using village data from samples covering 6 provinces,36 counties and 216 townships,the income inequalities within and between townships in rural China are assessed. The Theil index and the mean logarithmic deviation methods enable us to test income inequality at the township level,and to decompose it into intra-regional and inter-regional at county and provincial levels. In the present paper,we also decompose income inequalities between and within the nationally designated poor counties (NDPC). The results show that approximately two-thirds of the income inequality in rural China would be eliminated if measures and policies were targeted at the county level. This study also confirms the rationale that China's poverty alleviation strategy of focusing on poor counties based on the inequalities between NDPC and non-NDPC accounts for the most inter-province inequality.     

On the Coordinated Development of Urbanization and Rural Economy in China

Urbanization is one of important missions in china＇s modemization. The most vital task in the advancement of urbanization is to increase peasants＇ income and appropriately solve the issues concerning agriculture, rural areas and peasants, thus ensuring the accelerated development of rural economy. This paper mainly discusses five issues that urgently need solving in the development of rural economy and urbanization. They include peasant＇s qualification and right of the real management entity in the market, financial support, circulation and transference of agricultural land, welfare and social security of peasants and fairness of taxes on peasants.     

Poverty Reduction and Effects of Pro-poor Policies in Rural China

The present paper describes changes in poverty reduction in recent decades and the effects of income growth and inequality on poverty reduction in rural China. The paper also examines the main poverty alleviation policies implemented in rural areas over the past l 0 years and assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of these policies from the perspective of targeting accuracy. It is found that China has achieved significant progress in rural poverty reduction in recent decades, although the speed of poverty reduction has varied from one period to another. The largest contribution to rural poverty reduction has been economic growth, which has been increasingly offset by the inequality effect on poverty reduction. In addition, poverty alIeviation policies are effective, but not efficient.     

Scale of China''''s Income Redistribution

The issue of income redistribution has drawn widespread attention in recent years as China's income gap has been widening. In particular, as the number of the urban poor has been on the rise, the call for strengthening income distribution has become ever louder. How wide is the coverage of income redistribution in China? How large is the current scale of China's income redistribution? What problems exist in the process of income redistribution? This article is going to make a preliminary probe into these questions.     

Research on the expenditure of Yunnan fiscal on agriculture and its performance

This paper applies stepwise regression to analyze the contribution of Yunnan fiscal expenditure of agriculture to agricultural economy growth and per capita annual income on agriculture of rural inhabitants over the period from 1978 to 2006, and uses Granger causality test to examine the relation of fiscal expenditure and per capita annual income of rural inhabitants and the income differential between urban and rural residents. The results suggest that it is the structure of fiscal expenditure on agriculture rather than the scale that has effect on the income of peasants. Because of the deviation of objectives of fiscal expenditure, the expenditure of agriculture could not narrow the income differential between urban and rural inhabitants.     

Local ＂Land Finance＂ in China＇s Urban Expansion： Challenges and Solutions

This paper considers the issue of local ＂land finance＇＂ in the context of China ＂s fast urban expansion. In an analysis of China ＂s land requisition and public leasing system we argue that low-cost land acquisition is the fundamental cause of land-related distortions that have occurred during China ＂s urbanization. Granting farmers the power to negotiate directly with land users during urban expansion, combined with coordinated land tax reforms to consolidate local tax bases is the key to China achieving both equity and land use efficiency in urban expansion.     

People＇s Mobility and Guanxi Networks： A Case Study

The increase in the movement of people from rural to urban areas since the mid-1980s represents the largest labor migration ever experienced in China. Because migration is a process of selection, it is imperative that the major dynamics determining the selection are studied. What are the critical characteristics of migrants that help them to realize their mobility from rural areas to urban areas？ While educational attainment, gender, age, marital status and personal skills are important variables in the selection process, the present paper examines how social networks （guanxi connections） play a significant role in the process of migration selection in China. A case study from one of the northern villages in rural China is used to explore how social networks have shaped and given meaning to migration. The present paper elaborates on how people＇s social mobility has coincided with and been reinforced by people＇s physical mobility.     

China＇s Urban Employment and Urbanization Rate： A Re-estimation

The present paper argues that China＇s existing population and employment statistics are misleading, and have failed to include many of the migrant and labor force flows between urban and rural areas. The paper reconciles the differences between official census data and other survey statistics and attempts to recalculate China＇s urban population and employment figures. Our analyses indicate that official statistics of 2012 underestimate China ＇s urban employment by approximately 47 million while overestimating rural employment by 31 million. The adjusted urbanization rate exceeded 55 percent in 2012, almost 3 percentage points higher than the official statistics. Nevertheless, there remains much potential for rural-to-urban migration. More specifically, if the current bottlenecks in household registration, social security and public welfare systems can be removed or relaxed, China＇s urbanization rate could rise by another l O percentage points or even more over the next decade.     

How Has Rural Tax Reform Affected Farmers and Local Governance in China？

Using nationally representative data, the present paper examines the impact of China's ongoing rural tax reform on farmers. The difficulties in further local governance restructuring are also discussed. It is argued that the issues associated with rural taxation and local governance in China result from inherent tension between an increasingly liberalized economic system and a still centralized political system. Although rural tax reform has helped to reduce farmers' tax burdens in the short term, the establishment of an effective local governance regime requires coordinated reforms to downsize local bureaucracy by providing social security for laid-off cadres, to strengthen local accountability by granting higher local formal tax autonomy, and to promote meaningful participation by expanding local democracy.     

New Thoughts to Increase Farmers＇ Earnings

This paper suggests that farmers＇ earnings are hard to be increased because farmers＇ material capital and manpower capital are very low. Solving the farmers＇ problem of little growth in income doesn＇t merely satisfy farmers＇ currency increase, but has the strategic eyes to increase the growth speed over that of citizen. This paper has evaluated four kinds of thoughts of increasing farmers＇ income discussed at present. It points out that relying on external forces to develop agricultural industrialization and regulate rural economic structure, lead to the income that farmers get from is limited. Merely lightening the burden of farmers can not be the main approach to increase earnings, only investing more in agriculture may create condition for increasing income and diverting country redundant labors. But we must improve farmers＇ culture quality and capital accumulation firstly. At last, it proposes thoughts and suggestions to solve the problem.