An Empirical Study On Non-Agricultural Self-Employment And Consumption Inequality Of Rural Residents

With the deepening reform of the economic system,China’s economy has achieved rapid development,but serious inequities have also appeared.According to relevant data from the National Bureau of Statistics,China’s income Gini index reached 0.47 in 2021,exceeding the international warning line of 0.4,which indicates that the inequality of income distribution in China is too high and needs close attention.Compared with income inequality,consumption inequality can better reflect the happiness of residents’ life.Compared with town residents,the consumption inequality of rural residents is more serious because of the different environmental conditions of rural residents.Consumption inequality will not only lead to the "social crisis trap",but also greatly hinder economic development.In 2022,the No.1 Document of the Central Government proposed to "promote the expansion,improvement and upgrading of rural consumption".Rural consumption is the core focus of rural revitalization.Therefore,based on the current economic and social environment in our country,we should not only promote to stimulate rural consumption ability,stimulate domestic demand and promote economic growth,but also pay attention to prevent the increase of the consumption gap between families,reduce consumption inequality in rural areas,and ensure relatively fair social distribution.Therefore,the study of rural residents consumption inequality to ensure high quality development of rural economy is of great significance.Based on the data of 2018 China Household Tracking Survey(CFPS),this paper explores the impact of non-agricultural self-employment on the development of individual economy from the perspective of consumption inequality.By using the methods of literature research and quantitative analysis,on the basis of the theory of consumption hypothesis,labor market segmentation and unemployment promotion,this paper reviews the domestic and foreign research literature on non-agricultural self-employment of rural residents and consumption inequality,and gives a clear definition of non-agricultural self-employment,consumption inequality and other core concepts.This paper uses propensity score matching model to identify the causal effect and mechanism of individual non-agricultural self-employment and consumption inequality.The results show that non-agricultural self-employment has an obvious promoting effect on reducing the consumption inequality of rural residents,and there are obvious regional differences.On this basis,from the perspective of non-agricultural self-employment,this paper puts forward three policy suggestions to alleviate the consumption inequality of rural residents.First,formulate relevant policies to reasonably guide rural residents to engage in non-agricultural self-employment;Second,provide relevant training to improve the professional skills of non-agricultural self-employed people;The third is to construct a set of human capital investment support system suitable for non-agricultural self-employed workers.Through the analysis of non-agricultural self-employment and consumption inequality of rural residents,this paper provides the empirical verification of the current degree and mechanism of consumption inequality of rural residents for the government,which is conducive to providing the basis for how to improve the consumption gap of rural residents to promote social equity and reasonably guide non-agricultural self-employment activities from the government level.