Any Guarantees? China's Rural Minimum Living Standard Guarantee Program

Any Guarantees? China's Rural Minimum Living Standard Guarantee Program

This paper examines China's rural minimum living standard guarantee (dibao) program, one of the largest targeted transfer schemes in the world. Using household survey data matched with published administrative data, the authors provide backgro...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Golan, Jennifer, Sicular, Terry, Umapathi, Nithin
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE POVERTY ANTI-POVERTY ANTIPOVERTY PROGRAM AUDITING AUTONOMOUS REGIONS BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY HOUSEHOLDS CASH TRANSFERS CONSUMER PRICE INDEX CORRUPTION COUNTERFACTUAL DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DESTITUTE HOUSEHOLDS EGALITARIAN DISTRIBUTION ESTIMATES OF POVERTY FAMILY MEMBERS FLEXIBILITY HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD INCOMES HOUSEHOLD PARTICIPATION HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HOUSING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IMPACT ON POVERTY IMPACT ON POVERTY REDUCTION INCIDENCE OF POVERTY INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME TRANSFERS INEQUALITY INTERNATIONAL POVERTY LINES LEARNING MOUNTAINOUS AREAS NATURAL DISASTER NET INCOME PARTICIPATION RATES PER CAPITA INCOME POLICY CHANGES POOR POOR AREA POOR AREAS POOR BENEFICIARIES POOR COUNTIES POOR HOUSEHOLDS POOR PEOPLE POORER AREAS POORER GROUPS POORER HOUSEHOLDS POVERTY ALLEVIATION POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMS POVERTY GAP POVERTY IMPACT POVERTY IMPACTS POVERTY INCIDENCE POVERTY LEVELS POVERTY LINE POVERTY LINES POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY OUTCOMES POVERTY RATE POVERTY RATES POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY THRESHOLD PROGRAM EVALUATION PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION REGIONAL POPULATIONS RURAL RURAL AREAS RURAL CONSUMER RURAL ECONOMY RURAL HOUSEHOLD RURAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME RURAL HOUSEHOLDS RURAL INCOMES RURAL INEQUALITY RURAL POOR RURAL POPULATION RURAL POVERTY RURAL POVERTY ALLEVIATION SAFETY NET SAMPLE SIZE SAVINGS SELECTION BIAS SELF-EMPLOYMENT SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SOCIAL PROGRAMS SOCIAL PROTECTION SOCIAL SECURITY TARGETING TRANSFER AMOUNTS TRANSFER PROGRAMS VILLAGE LEADERS VILLAGE LEVEL WAGE EMPLOYMENT
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/08/20123612/guarantees-chinas-rural-minimum-living-standard-guarantee-program http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19976

Description
Summary:	This paper examines China's rural minimum living standard guarantee (dibao) program, one of the largest targeted transfer schemes in the world. Using household survey data matched with published administrative data, the authors provide background on the patterns of inequality and poverty in rural China, describe the dibao program, estimate the program's impact on poverty, and carry out targeting analysis. The authors find that the program provides sufficient income to poor beneficiaries but does not substantially reduce the overall level of poverty, in part because the number of beneficiaries is small relative to the number of poor. Conventional targeting analysis reveals rather large inclusionary and exclusionary targeting errors; propensity score targeting analysis yields smaller but still large targeting errors. Simulations of possible reforms to the dibao program indicate that expanding coverage can potentially yield greater poverty reduction than increasing transfer amounts. In addition, replacing locally diverse dibao lines with a nationally uniform dibao threshold can in theory reduce poverty. The potential gains in poverty reduction, however, depend on the effectiveness of targeting.

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