贫困家庭的金融选择:基于社会资本视角的分析

本文旨在研究社会资本视角下贫困家庭的金融选择问题,重点关注社会资本对于贫困家庭改善金融状况、缓解贫困的作用。在对我国贫困家庭入户调查的基础上,实证分析三个问题——社会资本的测度、社会资本对贫困家庭金融选择的影响和城乡差异,研究证实通过社会资本改善贫困家庭金融状况是反贫困的重要途径,由此提出建议:第一,充分发挥政府在改善贫困家庭金融方面的主导作用,重视社会资本投入;第二,充分发挥金融中介作用,在贫困家庭信用担保中更多地考虑社会资本的作用;第三,规范民间非正规金融发展,积极发挥社会资本在民间借贷中的重要作用。     

Report of China Household Income Disparity

Based on China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) data, China’s Gini Coefficient stood at 0.61 in 2010, above the global average of 0.44, according to the World Bank. The high Gini Coefficient represents a large income disparity of the country. It is understandable that a high Gini is common in fast-growing economies and can be reduced through government’s transfer payments given the experience of OECD countries. This paper illustrates the breakdown of China’s Gini, regional, rural and urban differences in household income. Specifically, it is found that poor health, insufficient social welfare and low education level are the main reasons for poverty of rural households. This paper also provides solutions to reduce the Gini coefficient. In the short term, China government can invest more on social insurance and implement large-scale transfer payments. The figure shows that China government has sufficient financial sources to strengthen secondary distribution to subsidize the low-income group. In the long term, government can increase overall educational level and reduce the opportunity inequality to narrow the income gap.