| How to reduce the degree of income inequality and keep the income gap of residents within a moderate range is a practical problem that all countries in the world are concerned about.Since the reform and opening up,with the rapid economic growth,the Chinese income distribution pattern has also undergone important changes.The strategy of "letting some people get rich first" has enabled China to maintain high-speed economic growth.But at the same time,development is increasingly uneven between regions and between urban and rural areas.And the income gap between different groups and industries is becoming increasingly obvious.Income distribution is facing more and more prominent contradictions.This not only hinders the sustainable development of the Chinese economy but also becomes an important factor affecting social stability.Income redistribution is based on the primary distribution,with the government as the main body of adjustment,and by means of taxation,social insurance,and other means to realize the transfer of cash or goods among social members.As an important link in narrowing the income gap,income redistribution is the essence of narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor and achieving common prosperity.It is also the government’s macro-control and service responsibility.As a key part of income redistribution,the endowment insurance system is particularly important if it can help narrow the income gap and play a role in income redistribution.The basic pension system for urban and rural residents in China is the endowment insurance system with the largest coverage at present.This dissertation only focuses on rural areas because rural residents account for more than 95% of the more than 500 million people participating in the basic pension system for urban and rural residents.Therefore,we only study the impact of urban and rural residents’ endowment insurance system on the income gap of rural residents.In general,the basic pension insurance system for urban and rural residents has the characteristics of low treatment level,multiple payment levels,and different subsidy standards in different regions.So,has the gradually established pension system for urban and rural residents improved income distribution and narrowed the gap between the rich and the poor? What is the role of income redistribution?Based on this,this dissertation takes the income redistribution effect of the basic pension system for urban and rural residents as the research object.Following the logical thinking of "theoretical research-empirical research-applied research",construct the analytical framework of "theoretical cognition(first level)-empirical analysis(second level)-system optimization(third level)".Comprehensive use of literature research method,empirical research method,system analysis method,and social insurance policy simulation research method Disciplinary research method.And for data selection,we use micro data such as the CHARLS database,research data of the research group,and macro data published by the national and provincial,and municipal statistical bureaus.On this basis,this paper conducts a systematic and in-depth study on the income redistribution effect of the basic endowment insurance system for urban and rural residents from three dimensions: individual income redistribution effect,regional income redistribution effect,and urban and rural income redistribution effect.The main conclusions of this dissertation are as follows:First,the basic pension system for urban and rural residents has the function of realizing income redistribution.This dissertation mainly analyzes the mechanism of the basic pension system for urban and rural residents in regulating income distribution from the aspects of coverage,financing,and payment.In terms of coverage,the coverage rate of the basic pension system for urban and rural residents will reach 86.5% in 2020 and it has the basic conditions to exert the effect of income redistribution.From the perspective of financing,the basic pension system for urban and rural residents adopts a partial accumulation financing model that combines social pooling and individual accounts.At the same time,the government pays more attention to subsidies and care for low-income earners,and adopts differentiated payment methods for different groups of people.Therefore,it has a strong income redistribution effect.From the point of view of payment,the basic pension insurance system for urban and rural residents adopts the combination of DB and DC,which has a strong income redistribution effect.At the same time,it pays more attention to subsidies and cares for the central and western regions so as to realize regional income redistribution.Second,the basic pension system for urban and rural residents has a positive adjustment effect on the individual income gap to a certain extent.The research on the evaluation of the individual income redistribution effect of the basic pension system for urban and rural residents found that in terms of micro data,whether the Gini coefficient or the Kakwani individual income relative deprivation index is selected as the evaluation index;whether using the CHARLS database or the research data of the research group,it is proved that the transfer of income from the basic pension system for urban and rural residents has a positive adjustment effect on the individual income gap.However,even after the basic pension system for urban and rural residents,the Gini coefficient of rural residents is still around 0.6 and the income gap is still huge.As far as the internal rate of return is concerned,the internal rate of return of low-income residents will be much greater than that of middle-and high-income residents.Taking the pay grades of 100 yuan,500 yuan,1000 yuan,and 2000 yuan as an example,if the payment is 15 years,the internal rate of return is 89.8%,27%,18.1%,and 12.9%,respectively;if the payment is 34 years,the internal rate of return is 65.8%,21.5%,12.0%,and 11.1%,respectively.It can be seen that the basic pension system for urban and rural residents can effectively adjust the income gap between residents with different incomes.Third,the basic pension system for urban and rural residents has different effects on regional income gap adjustment.This paper uses the generalized entropy-Theil index to evaluate the income redistribution effects of the provinces,eastern,central,and western regions of the country,as well as the seven regions of North China,Northeast China,East China,Central China,South China,Southwest China,and Northwest China.It is found that from2014 to 2020,from the perspective of all provinces in the country,the basic pension system for urban and rural residents played a negative adjustment role in the income gap between provinces and cities across the country.From the perspective of the three major regions,it has played a negative adjustment role in the income gap in the eastern region,but to a certain extent has alleviated the inequality of income distribution in the central region and the western region.From the perspective of the seven regions,the basic pension system for urban and rural residents plays a negative adjustment role in the income gap between North China,Northeast China,Central China,East China,and South China,but to a certain extent eases the distribution of income in the Northwest and Southwest regions.The adjustment effect on the regional income gap in Central China is not obvious.Further comparing the adjustment effects of the three major regions and the seven major regions,it is found that the division of China into the three major regions of the eastern,central,and western regions is slightly rough.Because there are great differences in economic levels among provinces within each region so that it is difficult to accurately display the income gap in each region.Fourth,the basic pension system for urban and rural residents fails to play a role in adjusting the income gap between urban and rural areas.The study selects the internal rate of return,the net lifetime transfer amount,and the target replacement rate to comprehensively compare the benefits of the basic pension insurance for urban and rural residents and the basic pension insurance for urban employees.The study finds that the basic pension insurance for urban and rural residents has a higher internal rate of return than urban basic endowment insurance for employees.But since the principal is smaller,the absolute amount of the benefit is lower.The target replacement rate and net lifetime transfer amount of the basic pension system for urban and rural residents are far lower than those of the basic endowment insurance for urban workers,with a difference of dozens or even hundreds of times.It can be seen that the basic endowment insurance security level of urban and rural residents is far from the basic endowment insurance security level of urban employees,and it has not played a role in adjusting the income gap between urban and rural areas.On the whole,the basic pension system for urban and rural residents has the conditions to realize the function of income redistribution.But in terms of the degree of realization of its goals,such as narrowing the income gap between individuals,regions,and urban and rural areas,the effect is not ideal.Based on this,the dissertation puts forward the following policy recommendations: First,based on the affordability of finance to improve the level of basic pension benefits.After calculation,it is suggested that the basic pension can be adjusted to the lower limit including food,tobacco,alcohol,and clothing expenditures of rural residents;the upper limit includes food,tobacco and alcohol,clothing,daily necessities and services,and transportation and communication expenditures.Second,optimize the design of the sharing ratio between the central finance and the local finance.According to the calculation,the central finance can adopt the basic pension subsidy policy of various provinces and cities without subsidizing Beijing,Tianjin,Shanghai,and Guangdong;30% subsidy for Jiangsu and Zhejiang;50% subsidy for Fujian,Shandong and Chongqing;100% difference subsidy policy for the remaining provinces.Third,in order to improve the positive incentive subsidy policy for the basic pension system for urban and rural residents,the currently fixed subsidy can be changed to a proportional subsidy system.A relatively high proportion of subsidies can be set for low and medium payment grades,while the proportion of subsidies for high payment grades can be appropriately reduced.Fourth,expand the sources of financial subsidies for the basic pension system for urban and rural residents.Attract social welfare organizations to become the main body of financing.And allocate a certain percentage of state-owned enterprise operating income and land income to enrich the basic pension insurance fund for urban and rural residents.The innovations of this dissertation are mainly in the following four aspects:(1)Systematically analyze the mechanism of income redistribution of the basic pension system for urban and rural residents.Analyze the mechanism of action through coverage,financing,and payment so that expand the theoretical research on pension redistribution in Chinese.(2)The research perspective is more diversified.This dissertation from the perspectives of individuals,regions,and urban-rural diversity and comprehensively use a variety of indicators to evaluate the income redistribution effect of basic old-age insurance for urban and rural residents from three perspectives.This makes up for the insufficiency of previous studies focusing on a single perspective.(3)The conclusions of the study are more robust.In terms of micro-data,this paper not only selects the CHARLS database for research,but also uses the research group’s survey data in 13 regions in five provinces including Sichuan,Fujian,Yunnan,Hubei,and Heilongjiang for testing.In terms of macro data,this paper not only selects relevant provincial data but also uses macro parameters to construct "standard people" for research.Compared with most studies using only a single database,the conclusions of this paper are more credible and robust.(4)Put forward innovative ideas.Based on the calculation,this dissertation proposes to adjust the upper and lower limits of basic pension benefits within the financial affordability and the central government can adopt the differential subsidy policy that is precisely positioned to the provinces and cities,which are innovative and feasible. |
