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.     

Rising Inequality in China and the Move to a Balanced Economy

China faces serious external(i.e.trade) and internal(i.e.structural) imbalances.Both are related to income inequality,reduction of which will help to increase domestic demand.This paper discusses how income inequality has evolved over time.This is followed by an exploration of the consequences of high inequality.Driving forces underlying the rising inequality are analyzed before providing concrete policy recommendations.It is found that inequality declined in the early period of reform,until the mid to late 1980s,and then began a rising trend up to 2010.Major determinants of inequality include:location,institutional and policy factors,trade and globalization,and education inequality and human capital gaps along rural-urban and spatial divisions.To achieve a balanced economy and a harmonious society,development policies in China must shift from emphasizing growth to prioritizing equality.In addition,government interventions can target rural-urban disparity through rapid urbanization,and tackle regional inequality by developing financial markets, ensuring progressive allocation of fiscal resources,promoting trade and foreign direct investment in inland China,creating more formal jobs and supporting the service sector.     

Inequality and the Urban-rural Divide in China： Effects of Regressive Taxation

Using three comparable national representative household surveys for China in 1988, 1995 and 2002, the present paper reveals the regressivity and urban bias of China＇s direct tax and welfare system in this period It shows that a regressive taxation system and skewed allocation of subsidies increases the urban-rural income gap and enhances overall inequality. Modeling these relationships indicates that the relatively poorer rural population has a net tax liability, whereas those in the richer urban areas receive net subsidies. This pattern is common in China, although the extent of the bias varies. This skewed system of tax and welfare payments is a major cause of the persisting urban-rural income gap and contributes to the overall income inequality in China. The abolishment of the agriculture tax in 2006 has had a positive impact on rural people ＇s livelihoods.     

农村义务教育辍学原因与农户家庭基本情况的关联分析

The main purpose of this paper is concerned about children‘s discontining study in rural areas or dropout phenomena in rural children‘s education, and their relationships with the economic condition of the rural households. The conclusion is that family income, parents‘ education level and structure of family operations have cross-impact on the education of a country child. To reduce the dropout rate of rural children, a key measure is to increase farmer‘s income, but income increase alone is not sufficient. It is argued that reducing dropout is a relatively long-term process that cannot be solved with shot-term government policy adjustment. To increase the rate of junior middle school education in rural areas, an overall economic and social development in rural areas is necessary.     

Regional Environmental Performance and Its Determinants in China

A growing awareness of environmental quality hasplaced increasedpressure on China to improve environmental protection and regulations in the country. How have the regional economies in the country performed in terms of environmental efficiency？ The answer to this question is yet to be explored in the case of China. The objective of this paper is to present a quantitative analysis of environmental performance in China＇s regional economies and to examine the determinants of regional variation in performance. The findings are used to draw policy implications for environmental protection and are helpful in the discussion of China＇s future sustainable development.     

The Consumption-Stimulating Effect of Public Rental Housing in China

China's public rental policy creates opportunities for poor households to rent apartments at low rental prices.In addition to such an impact,we argue that public rental housing increases the purchasing power of the poor and therefore enhances the income elasticity of consumption,i.e.,the percentage of consumption increment due to a 1 percent increase in income.Based on a nationwide dataset from China,the Chinese Household Income Project 2018,we find that public rental housing significantly increases the marginal impact of household disposable income on consumption.Specifically,our analysis suggests that public rental apartments could increase the income elasticity of consumption demand by 18 percent among all rental households and by 24 percent among rental households with below-average income.We also find that the effect of public rental housing on income elasticity of consumption is stronger for service consumption than for nonservice consumption.These results suggest that a well designed public rental policy could not only promote consumption in favor of the service industry but also alleviate the undesirable consequences of the unbalanced consumption structure caused by income inequality.     

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.     

Neighborhood Effects and Regional Poverty Traps in Rural China

The present paper investigates how neighborhood effects are connected to chronic poverty. We examine a large sample of groups of households and find that neighborhood effects are significant in a majority of groups, especially in the poorest groups. People living in poor communities tend to suffer from poverty over time. It is of theoretical and empirical importance to explore how neighborhood effects are interrelated with chronic poverty and the channels through which this occurs. Unlike other econometric analyses, we establish a multilevel econometric model to show that： （i） it is difficult for an individual living in a neighborhood with a high proportion of agricultural labor, low education levels, and poor transport and telecommunication infrastructure to escape from poverty traps; （ii） neighborhood effects dominate in poor communities; and （iii） although poverty is affected by group-level factors, individual factors still play a dominant role in regards to escaping poverty when income surpasses a threshold level Therefore, policy priority should be given to providing social protection and public services, especially in poor rural areas.     

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.     

Impacts of Food and Energy Price Hikes and Proposed Coping Strategies

Based on sample survey data for the years 2006 and 2007, we find that inflation of food and energy prices in China is moving at a slower pace than in the international market; however, the livelihood of low income groups has been significantly impacted. Urban sample households in low income groups have been shifting from consumption of high value food to lower value substitutes; and all of the rural sample households are reducing their total consumption expenditure in real terms. The Engel＇ s coefficient of the rural household enlarged while their proportion of spending on clothing and energy declined. Farmers＇ households are moving toward more imbalanced diets, and the nutritional status of the poor is apparently deteriorating. The emergency-response measures that the government should implement include stopping subsidies to biofuel producers, who use foodstuffs as inputs, and providing food aid to the poor. The mid-term strategies should include anti-monopoly tactics, improving the market environment for the right competition, and eliminating price distortion. Midterm and long-term socioeconomic policy reform must be undertaken to adjust the social structure, to correct the mechanism of factor price formation, and to transform the pattern of economic growth.     

Understanding Failure in International Retailing： An Institutional Framework for Future Investigation

The move from domestic market to one that includes major retailers. Whiles prior research acknowledged differences international firms is not proving an easy task for between country environments and stressed the importance of addressing these differences in order to avoid the dangers and failures inherent in internationalisation, there is still lack of suitable framework that captures the effects of the institutional environment on failure in international retailing. The purpose of this paper is to introduce institutional theory as a complementary framework to explain failure in international retailing and suggest propositions for further research. The paper seeks to answer the research question： What are the factors in the institutional environment of a host country that affect failure in international retailing？ Consequently, the objective of this paper is threefold： （1） to introduce institutional theory as alternative theoretical framework to conceptualise failure in international retailing; （2） to identify institutional factors that exert pressures on the operational activities of international retailers in foreign markets and which leads to failure; （3） to provide some research propositions for further investigation. This paper offers several contributions. First, we extend current theories in international business, particularly, the literature on retail internationalisation and institutional theory by exploring pressures and difficulties that international retailers face in a new host institutional environment. Second, we identify a set of institutional factors that exert pressures on international retailers in foreign markets that lead to failure. Finally, with the institutional approach, this study fills the gap in earlier works by developing a complementary framework along with 11 propositions for future research. One major limitation of this paper is that it is conceptual; hence, further empirical analysis is needed to test the suggested propositions.     

Economic Causes and Cures of Social Instability in China

China＇s leaders have often expressed concerns about social instability, viewed as a threat both to the political order and to continued rapid growth. Slower growth might, in turn, further undermine social stability. Using survey data, the present paper examines the economic determinants of social instability. Four main determinants are identified.＇past and expected growth of income, income inequality, economic insecurity and misgovernance. The paper then considers possible policies to reduce social instability, examining each of the determinants in turn.     

Determinants of Household Income Mobility in Rural China

This article uses multivariate regression and decomposition analyses to assess household income mobility determinants and their contributions to income mobility in rural China from 1989 to 2006. The findings indicate that households with lower initial income level, higher share of wage income, higher educational level of household members, larger number of non-agricultural employed household members and younger heads are more mobile. Moreover, besides initial income, change in the share of wage income, change in the share of non-agricultural employed household members, and change in average year of education of household members are the most important factors that account for income mobility. These findings necessitate more emphasis on policies that promote non-agricultural employment and education to enhance household income mobility in rural China.     

Micro Econometric Analysis of Determinants of Occupational Choice in Algeria

A review of the literature on the issue of labor market participation and occupational choice allows to see that researches on this one turned more on developed countries. In underdeveloped countries, including Algeria, the determinants of participation in economic activity and individuals＇ occupational choice remain understood, despite their economic and social importance, since the degree of economic vulnerability and social development is strongly correlated with the occupied job. This work is not concerned with income from the labor market but rather the process that takes place upstream, that is to say, the integration into the labor market. This paper will study the labor market functioning by analyzing the supply and demand of labor. So the first step is to analyze the participation determinants in economic activity and in a second stage to determine the role of individual characteristics, in particular human capital for the tenure choice. The aim of this work is to answer the following questions： （1） What are the factors that influence individual＇s participation in the labor market？ Is there a difference between men and women？ （2） What are the occupational choice determinants of an individual on the labor market？ Is this the same factors for men and women？ （3） What are the causes of failure in the labor market？ To answer all the concerns, authors have exploited the employment surveys conducted by the National Office of Statistics （NOS） from Algerian households （employment surveys 1997 and 2007）. For processing and data analysis, authors applied several econometric techniques： models of discrete choice （binary logistic regression） and segmentation techniques. Four major findings emerged from this study： First, authors note that women＇s participation in economic activity is following logic quite different from that of men. For women, the education and training determine the participation in the labor market. For men, it is rather the age that determines particip     

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.     

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.     

Derivative Process Model of Development Power in Industry： Empirical Research and Forecast for Chinese Software Industry and US Economy

Based on the concept and theory of Development Power, this paper analyzes the transferability and the diffusibility of industrial development power, points out that the chaos is the extreme of DP releasing and order is the highest degree of DP accumulating, puts forward A-C strength, the index of adjusting and controlling strength, and sets up the derivative process model for industrial development power on the Partial Distribution By the derivative process model, a kind of time series model, we can describe the process of industrial development effectively, and can forecast the future direction of industry or economy. Finally, by making use of the actual data of Chinese software industry and data of USA GDP （chained） price index, we give the examples of empirical analysis, and forecast the future of Chinese software industry and USA economic development. The conclusions in this paper are believed to be valuable and significant to guide the establishment of the industrial policy and to control the industrial development.     

西藏农村公共服务的提供和贫困的减少(英文)

I. IntroductionThrough observing the basic public services that the farmers and herdsmen have obtained,this paper is devoted to an evaluation of the efforts made by the local government for thealleviation of poverty in rural Tibet. Firstly, the role of the agricultural support system inrealizing food security will be identified. Secondly, the public services that could directlyimprove the household welfare of farmers and herdsmen will be examined. Finally, we willexplore the possibilities for…     

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.