Decomposing poverty changes into vertical and horizontal components

Variations in aggregate poverty indices can be due to differences in average poverty intensity, to changes in the welfare distances between those poor of initially unequal welfare status and/or to emerging disparities in welfare among those poor of initially similar welfare status. This note uses a general cost‐of‐inequality approach that decomposes the total change in poverty into a sum of indices of each of these three components. This decomposition can serve inter alia to integrate horizontal and vertical equity criteria in the poverty alleviation assessment of social and economic programmes. The use of these measures is briefly illustrated using Tunisian data.     

Inequity in American Schools: A New Perspective on the Distributional Effects of School Expenditures on Economic Well‐Being

This article explores how inequities in public K‐12 school spending impact the distribution of economic well‐being across American households with public school students in 1989 and 2000. Adapting concepts from the public finance literature, I explore the impact of school spending on the vertical and horizontal equity and its impact relative to other types of public spending on social programs and taxation. Conventionally, vertical equity refers to the size of the income gaps between households. Horizontal equity refers to the ranking of households along the income distribution with any change in ranks producing horizontal inequity. My main findings show that school spending, when converted into a component of income, served to reduce extended‐income inequality through improvements in vertical equity without the discriminatory implications of exacerbating horizontal inequity across households. Additionally, this impact was at least as large as that of spending on other social programs. This finding bolsters standard arguments for equity and progressivity of school finance across students.     

Equity in Poverty Program Evaluations

Poverty‐reducing programs often use indicators other than household income to transfer resources to the poor which has important implications in terms of equity of the program. This paper offers a decomposition methodology to analyze the horizontal and vertical equity components of a redistribution policy for subgroups defined according to policy‐relevant characteristics. Our measures are derived by comparing the cost of inequality in terms of equally distributed equivalent poverty gaps in the pre‐transfer income and post‐transfer income distributions. An application to the poverty‐reducing program Oportunidades in Mexico in 2006 reveals that the use of indicator variables more strongly correlated with pre‐transfer incomes in rural households can improve the redistributive effect while it also points out the difficulties of the program in targeting different levels of support among the poor, both within and between groups.     

On the efficiency of fair trade

The first part of this paper reviews five major theoretical approaches that describe the fundamental causes of poverty, with particular attention to what these theories imply about government policy towards markets and the need for immediate poverty alleviation. Different causal theories have very different policy implications; it is difficult to recommend specific anti-poverty policies with making assumptions about the nature of economic markets and of individual behavior. The paper ends with comments about how to make these choices, arguing that the greater moral onus one associates with poverty, the more willing one should be to adopt less efficient strategies that do more to raise incomes among the poor. The interconnections between markets and social and political systems—which often disadvantage poor populations—suggests that some market regulations and targeted programs may be necessary to reduce poverty, especially if these can be implemented with minimal corruption and monitored for effectiveness.     

西部生态补偿与缓解贫困关系的研究框架

随着西部生态环境问题的日益突出,生态补偿现已成为解决此问题的有效手段之一。基于生态补偿项目社会公平性考虑和项目实施的客观扶贫效果,有关贫困参与者的研究成为近年来国外生态补偿研究中普遍关注的议题。在分析了国内外生态补偿与缓解贫困研究的基础上,从生态补偿对贫困参与者的筛选及其影响和评价方法等三个方面提出了研究西部生态补偿与缓解贫困关系的框架体系。最后提出了我国西部生态补偿项目设计中亟需改善的问题。     

西藏地区科技精准扶贫模式创新:对吉纳村的个案研究

相较于其它扶贫途径,科技扶贫具有内生性扶贫的积极特征,是精准扶贫的根本出路。科技精准扶贫并不是简单的技术培训,而是一项系统工程,涉及诸多因素的复杂互动,需要一整套社会支持系统的配合。西藏地区吉纳村在科技精准扶贫过程中注意与当地生产生活方式及社会文化传统相结合,创造性地探索出一些有益的可持续模式,取得了显著成效。吉纳村模式具有较高的借鉴价值。     

非传统生态脆弱区贫困群体的生态资源感知及生态脱贫意向分析——以山东地区的政府生态扶贫调查为例

依托山东地区政府生态扶贫实地调查所获得的776份问卷数据,运用二元Logistic模型对非传统生态脆弱区贫困群体的生态资源感知及生态脱贫意向进行实证分析。样本区域贫困群体的生态资源感知指数介于2.307~2.953之间,无较大差异,超过90%的贫困群体存在积极生态脱贫意向。实证结果表明:(1)非传统生态脆弱区生态资源韧性大,贫困群体的生态资源供给感知敏感度低于生态资源需求感知;(2)非传统生态脆弱区贫困群体的生态脱贫意向首先直接受到生态保护补偿扶贫政策的刺激,除了补助金补偿,还应通过就业机会补偿、市场化补偿等多种形式刺激贫困群体的发展积极性;(3)其次生态脱贫意向还受到生态资源感知、生态脱贫政策和社会人口特征的交互影响。     

ON EQUITY ASPECTS OF IMPERFECT INCOME REDISTRIBUTION

We develop a theoretical analysis of the impact of imperfect targeting, participation costs and incomplete take-up upon the level of progressivity, vertical equity, horizontal inequity and redistribution exerted by state benefits. An illustration using the distribution of British Supplementary Benefits (now Income Support) indicates that progressivity is roughly untouched, vertical equity and horizontal inequity are increased, and total income redistribution is slightly increased by these redistributive imperfections in 1985 Britain.     

扶贫的机制设计与制度选择

在近20年的扶贫实践中,制度因素在我国扶贫的历史进程中发挥了重要作用。随着我国扶贫实践的快速发展,特别是贫困人口总量的不断减少,我国贫困问题的特征也发生了一些变化,这些变化给我国的扶贫工作带来了一些新的挑战和问题。扶贫工作之所以问题重重,主要是因为制度短缺。因此,应加强扶贫制度建设,相应地调整我国的扶贫战略、制度设计和政策,农村扶贫有待制度创新。     

The role of constitutions on poverty: A cross-national investigation

We construct and use a new historical data set on economics and social rights from the constitutions of 195 countries and an instrument variable strategy to answer two important questions. First, do economic and social rights provisions in constitutions reduce poverty, measured as headcount income and health outcomes? Second, does the strength of constitutional language of the economic and social rights matter? Constitutional provisions can be framed either more weakly as directive principles or more strongly as enforceable law. Our results suggest three findings. First, we do not find an association between constitutional rights generally framed and poverty. Second, we do not find an association between economic and social rights framed as directive principles and poverty. Third, we do find a strong negative association between economic and social rights framed as enforceable law and poverty when we use legal origins as our IV. These results persist for indices of constitutional rights and also when we restrict the sample to non-OECD countries. The policy implication is that constitutional provisions framed as enforceable law provide effective meta-rules with incentives for policymakers to initiate, fund, monitor and enforce poverty reduction policies.     

青海扶贫开发的难点与战略探究

反贫困是现代社会面临的重大课题。青海的贫困源于能力贫困,扶贫的难点在于贫困人口的劳动能力无法保持可持续发展。单纯依靠物质资本投资的“输血”型扶贫战略无法从根本上解决青海的贫困问题。确立能使贫困者的脱贫能力持续增长的“造血型”战略是青海扶贫开发的理性选择。     

Social insurance and social justice—Another look at the antipoverty effects of social insurance programs

This paper analyzes social insurance programs in the United States to determine if they support the principles of social justice, with special emphasis on the principle of preferential treatment of the poor. The paper also examines the antipoverty effects of social insurance programs. The major conclusions are the following: (1) social insurance programs generally are consistent with the principles of social justice, but parts of certain programs clearly violate the norms of social justice; (2) social insurance programs are especially powerful in reducing the poverty rate and poverty gap for the elderly, but are generally ineffective in reducing the poverty rate for single-parent families with related children under age 18; (3) social insurance programs have only a minor impact in reducing the poverty rate among married-couple families with related children under age 18; and (4) although the Social Security payroll results in a small increase in the poverty rate, social insurance programs are especially effective in reducing income inequality.     

A social economist’s search for justice: Comment

This paper analyzes social insurance programs in the United States to determine if they support the principles of social justice, with special emphasis on the principle of preferential treatment of the poor. The paper also examines the antipoverty effects of social insurance programs. The major conclusions are the following: (1) social insurance programs generally are consistent with the principles of social justice, but parts of certain programs clearly violate the norms of social justice; (2) social insurance programs are especially powerful in reducing the poverty rate and poverty gap for the elderly, but are generally ineffective in reducing the poverty rate for single-parent families with related children under age 18; (3) social insurance programs have only a minor impact in reducing the poverty rate among married-couple families with related children under age 18; and (4) although the Social Security payroll results in a small increase in the poverty rate, social insurance programs are especially effective in reducing income inequality.     

"送猪崽"与"折现金":我国产业精准扶贫的路径分析与政策模拟研究

产业扶贫旨在将贫困户的生产活动纳入社会产业大循环,因此其一直是全世界扶贫工作的重要方式和主要目标之一.我国产业精准扶贫出现了两条新路径:一是GTP路径,即向贫困户送猪崽、鸡苗和良种等资本,直接将贫困户的生产纳入当地的产业体系;二是GSP路径,即将扶贫资金折合现金并由贫困户自己决定投资项目和选择产业.文章构建了包括贫困户和非贫困户的微观主体行为模型以及基于农村公平和效率的农村福利模型,分别研究了这两条新路径上贫困户福利和农村福利的动态演变过程,然后使用系统动力学模型进行了政策模拟,拟探索出我国产业精准扶贫的最优路径及其政策支持空间.结果显示:在第3~4年的时间内,GSP路径要优于GTP,但是超过4年,GTP路径上的贫困户福利和农村福利就会累进性超过GSP.而且,在GTP路径上的时间越长,扶贫效果就越好.在中长期,提高贫困户的技术水平,增加贫困户的初始资本额是进一步提高GTP路径上贫困户福利和农村福利水平的重要环节.文章的结论对于提高我国精准扶贫的理论自信,进一步完善我国产业精准扶贫政策体系具有一定的启示.     

Analysis of the equity preference influence in customer participation incentives

In this paper, equity preference is introduced into the customer participation (CP) incentive problem and new principal–agent models are built. The proposed models are different from the Holmstrom and Milgrom's models (1987) because of the consideration of equity preference, which emphasize the material utility and equitable distribution of customers. By assuming that the incentives that firms pay to customers have the same effect on monetary incentives, the optimal incentives are discussed, in which the equilibrium solutions are explored and the respective impact of horizontal equity preference and vertical equity preference on CP incentives are compared. The proposed models are validated by numerical experiments in the product enhancement project of a large software enterprise in Guangzhou. It can be demonstrated that 1) asymmetric information induces lazy behaviors of customers concerning vertical equity preference; 2) horizontal equity preference promotes the work enthusiasm of customers in CP more than self-interest does; and 3) it is more conducive to obtain a much bigger expected income when firms employ customers with horizontal equity preference to participate in innovation process.     

中国扶贫资金支出结构的动态减贫效果研究

文章从理论上总结扶贫资金支出对农村贫困的减贫效果,构建扶贫资金支出与农村贫困的理论分析框架,提出扶贫资金对农村贫困发生率、农村贫困深度、农村贫困强度具有正向减贫效果的研究假设,以宏观调查数据度量我国农村贫困程度,揭示我国农村贫困的变化趋势,并运用脉冲响应函数分析方法,对扶贫资金支出结构的动态减贫效果进行了分析,结果显示:扶贫专项贷款对农村贫困发生率具有正向减贫效果;以工代赈资金对农村贫困发生率、农村贫困深度以及农村贫困强度具有正向减贫效果;扶贫发展资金对农村贫困深度具有正向减贫效果,而扶贫专项贷款对农村贫困强度的冲击则显示出负向减贫效果;扶贫发展资金对农村贫困强度具有显著负效应。据此,文章提出改善扶贫资金支出结构的相关政策建议。     

Impact of Taxes and Benefits on Inequality among Groups of Income Units

This paper analyzes the redistributive impact of the fiscal system and simultaneously explains how each tax and benefit instrument satisfies the principles of vertical and horizontal equity within and across different groups of income units. The decompositions of the redistributive effect are based on new axioms concerning the vertical and horizontal equity of the overall fiscal system, including taxes and benefits. The method is based on pairwise comparisons of income units and the “micro” concepts of income supremacy change, deprivation from reranking, and income distance change. The decomposition results provide more detailed insights into the income redistribution process than is typical in the literature. This is illustrated by an empirical application of the method to the Croatian scheme of personal income taxes and non‐pension social benefits, in which households are divided into two groups, those with and those without children.     

构建稳固脱贫的长效机制

我国实现了世界上最大规模和最快速度的减贫，创造了全人类反贫困事业的伟大奇迹，彰显出中国特色社会主义制度的巨大优越性和国家治理体系与治理能力的生机和活力。但由于贫困成因的复杂性和脱贫的脆弱性，如何从机制设计上巩固脱贫成果、阻止贫困复归，是今后反贫困长期面临的重要任务。本文结合后扶贫时代我国农业农村工作重点，运用规范研究方法，从四个方面提出了有效构建稳固脱贫的长效机制，包括：构建稳固脱贫与精准扶贫政策延续机制；稳固脱贫与乡村产业振兴衔接机制；稳固脱贫与壮大集体经济共促机制；稳固脱贫与“扶志”“扶智”并举的内生动力和能力机制。     

RANKING INCOME DISTRIBUTIONS WHEN NEEDS DIFFER

We derive criteria for ranking income distributions where households differ in equity-relevant non-income characteristics ('needs'). using methods which do not require cardinal specifications of equivalence scales. We consider comparisons for situations where the distributions of needs differ (eg. Cross nationally or intertemporally), building on the results of Atkinson and Bourguignon (1987) and Atkinson (1992). The modifications required when the individual rather than the household is the income-receiving unit are also discussed. We illustrate the methods with an analysis of changes in social welfare and poverty in the U.K. between 1981 and 1986.     

自生能力与巩固脱贫成果——后扶贫时代的思考

我国已经如期实现了精准脱贫的目标,成功按期消除了绝对贫困,这同时意味着我国进入了后扶贫时代.如何巩固深度贫困地区和人口的扶贫成果,防止出现规模性退化或返贫,应当是后扶贫时代需要深入思考和解决的重大课题.经验证明,当贫困地区和贫困人口按标准成功摆脱贫困以后,会出现一定的退化现象,从而需要有一个脱贫成果的巩固期.特别是那些...