China’s Four-Decade Rural Poverty Reduction in Urbanization: Efforts and Outcomes

Zhu Ling and He Wei
Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing, China

Abstract: Over the past four decades of reform and opening-up, China has basically eradicated hunger and lifted over 700 million rural people out of poverty. China’s poverty incidence has dropped to about 3%. These achievements can be attributed to the following factors: First, farmers have regained their economic freedom that was lost in the planned economy era. Second, China’s top decision-makers have followed people’s will by transitioning into the market economy and thus achieved rapid economic growth. Third, the government has continuously enhanced infrastructure and human capital investments, and implemented a social protection system in rural and urban areas nationwide. Fourth, integrated poverty reduction measures have been carried out to assist poor people in disadvantaged regions and those with poor capabilities. Given the diminishing poverty reduction effect of pro-poor fiscal funds, it is necessary to avoid direct administrative interventions in the operational decision-making of poor households and broaden institutional space for rural cooperative economy. Meanwhile, China should remove inequalities in the rights between the urban and rural households, facilitate the labor migration of the poor, and promote the urbanization of rural people.

Keywords: four decades of reform and opening-up, transition of dual economy, urbanrural divide, rural poverty reduction

JEL Classification Codes: F63, I30, O20, P25
DOI:1 0.19602/j .chinaeconomist.2019.5.01

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