China's (Uneven) Progress Against Poverty
While the incidence of extreme poverty in China fell dramatically over 1980-2001, progress was uneven over time and across provinces. Rural areas accounted for the bulk of the gains to the poor, though migration to urban areas helped. The pattern o...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, D.C.
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/09/5168139/chinas-uneven-progress-against-poverty http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14241 |
| Summary: | While the incidence of extreme poverty
in China fell dramatically over 1980-2001, progress was
uneven over time and across provinces. Rural areas accounted
for the bulk of the gains to the poor, though migration to
urban areas helped. The pattern of growth mattered. Rural
economic growth was far more important to national poverty
reduction than urban economic growth. Agriculture played a
far more important role than the secondary or tertiary
sources of gross domestic product (GDP). Rising inequality
within the rural sector greatly slowed poverty reduction.
Provinces starting with relatively high inequality saw
slower progress against poverty, due both to lower growth
and a lower growth elasticity of poverty reduction. Taxation
of farmers and inflation hurt the poor. External trade had
little short-term impact. |
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