Multidimensional Relative Poverty Of Rural Households In China And Its Influencing Factors

On 25 February 2021,General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the National Conference on Summing Up and Commending Poverty Eradication: China’s poverty eradication campaign has achieved a comprehensive victory,with 98.99 million rural poor people under the current standard all lifted out of poverty,832 poverty-stricken counties all removed their caps,128,000 poverty-stricken villages all emerged,and overall regional poverty was solved,completing the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty.However,eliminating absolute poverty is not the same as eliminating the problem of poverty,but has turned into a more difficult problem of relative poverty to solve.The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee also clearly proposed "establishing a long-term mechanism to solve the problem of relative poverty".Therefore,the study of the long-standing problem of relative poverty is of great importance to the development of poverty alleviation work after 2020.Relative poverty refers to a feeling of relative deprivation when compared to a certain reference,i.e.poverty caused by the difference in living standards or living conditions subjectively perceived by people in the same period and in different regions.In fact,the causes of relative poverty in our country can be attributed to the main contradiction in our society: "the contradiction between the people’s growing need for a better life and unbalanced and insufficient development".This means that alleviating the problem of relative poverty means identifying and solving the problem of unbalanced development.This paper selects four periods of panel data from the China Household Tracking Survey(CFPS)from 2012-2018 to study the impact of precise poverty alleviation policies on multidimensional relative poverty of rural households in China.Prior to the analysis,the A-F method was used to measure the multidimensional relative poverty of rural households in China,drawing on the poverty measurement methods used by scholars at home and abroad,the indicators chosen and China’s national conditions.It was found that(1)when k≤0.3,the incidence of multidimensional relative poverty decreases year by year.When k≥0.5,the incidence of multidimensional relative poverty was the lowest in all of 2012,and it decreased year by year during 2014-2018.(2)When the multidimensional relative poverty index(MRPI)is decomposed by dimension.The contribution of the education dimension to the MRPI is the largest,followed by the income dimension,the health dimension and the living standard dimension in that order.(3)When the MRPI is decomposed by indicator.The per capita net household income indicator has a higher contribution rate,followed by the years of schooling indicator and the school-age children out of school indicator of the education dimension.The lower contribution rates were for the health dimension’s body quality index indicator and the living standard dimension’s housing belonging indicator,both with contribution rates of less than 2%.(4)When decomposing the MRPI by region,the regions with higher contribution rates were Gansu Province,Henan Province and Liaoning Province.Regions with lower contribution rates include Jiangsu Province and Tianjin City.The multidimensional relative poverty deprivation score of each farm household measured by the A-F method is used as the explanatory variable to study the impact of the precise poverty alleviation policy on them.In order to exclude the interference of other random factors and study the net effect of the policy,this paper adopts the PSMDID approach for analysis.The study found that:(1)the years of education of the household head,health status of the household head,household consumption expenditure,household cash and savings,and whether or not the household has wage income all negatively affect the multidimensional relative poverty status of farm households significantly at the 1% level;the age of the household head variable negatively affects the multidimensional relative poverty status of farm households significantly at the 10% level;while the gender of the household head,whether or not the household head is married,and the number of household members are insignificant The household head’s gender,whether the household head is married or not,and the household size are not significant.(2)The sustainability of the effect of the policy on poverty alleviation was investigated by postponing the implementation time of the policy,and it was found that the policy effect was sustainable but tended to weaken.(3)Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the policy effect of the policy on poverty alleviation differs among households with different poverty levels,with the most pronounced effect occurring when the threshold value is 0.6.The next best policy effect is when the critical value is 0.2;the policy effect of precise poverty alleviation policies on different regions is different.The policy effect on the western region is the most obvious,followed by the central and eastern regions in that order.(4)The analysis of mediating effects found that farmers’ social capital would increase after enjoying the policy of precise poverty alleviation,and adding social capital as a mediating variable to the baseline regression model would significantly reduce farmers’ multidimensional relative poverty scores.(5)The exploratory analysis found that the precision poverty alleviation policy is highly targeted in that it aims to help alleviate the multidimensional poverty status of rural households,and the policy effect on the multidimensional relative poverty status of urban households is not significant.In comparing the policy effectiveness achieved by the policy of precise poverty alleviation in addressing absolute and relative poverty,it is found that the policy effect is significantly stronger for multidimensional absolute poverty than for multidimensional relative poverty.The A-F approach is used to measure multidimensional relative poverty among households and to answer the question of "who is poor" after 2020,providing a reliable basis for establishing a long-term mechanism to address relative poverty.Using the PSM-DID approach to study the net effect of precise poverty alleviation policies on multidimensional relative poverty among rural households in China is important for policy performance testing and policy improvement.In view of the above findings and the implications of this paper,this paper puts forward three targeted recommendations.(1)To develop a scientific and consistent multidimensional relative poverty indicator system in China,and to consider how to accurately identify multidimensional relative poverty individuals,so as to provide reference for future poverty alleviation work.The multidimensional nature of relative poverty requires us to build a multidimensional indicator system,including but not limited to the income,health,education and living standard dimensions proposed in this paper.(2)Focus on vulnerable groups with higher poverty vulnerability,continuously consolidate the effectiveness of poverty eradication and maintain the sustainability of the precise poverty alleviation policy.Free employment guidance can be provided to the unemployed,jobless and laid-off workers to enhance the self-development ability of groups with high poverty vulnerability.(3)Optimise existing poverty alleviation policies according to China’s current multidimensional relative poverty situation.Although the policy of precise poverty alleviation was initially proposed for absolute poverty in rural areas,this paper finds that it also has a certain alleviating effect on the multidimensional relative poverty in rural areas,indicating that the policy is highly targeted and has a certain degree of policy foresight.A better poverty alleviation policy can be built on the basis of the policy of precise poverty alleviation.