Poverty
The causes of chronic and transient poverty and their implications for poverty reduction policy in rural China
Chinese rural poverty reduction programme is off target
Authors:
S. Li; P. Wang; X. Yue
Publisher:
Poverty and Economic Policy Network , 2007
Is the Chinese government’s approach to alleviate poverty through raising general income levels appropriate for the context of rural China? To address the question, this paper focuses on two components of poverty, chronic and transient, and assesses their relative importance in total observed poverty. Is also examines the determinants of each component.
Key findings include:
- transient poverty accounts for a large portion of total poverty
- household demographic characteristics are very important to their poverty status, in particular chronic poverty
- physical stock, consumption of income and the amount of cultivated lands of a household has a significant effect on both components of poverty
- attributes of the community where households reside are important
Authors conclude that poverty programmes in rural China do not have a significant impact on poverty reduction at the household level. Their implementation design fails to target the poor.
