Local Elections and Consumption Insurance : Evidence from Chinese Villages

Gan, Li ; Xu, Lixin Colin ; Yao, Yang

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS;    AGRICULTURE;    ANNUAL GROWTH;    ANNUAL GROWTH RATE;    AVERAGE ANNUAL;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4205
RP-ID  :  WPS4205

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

While the literature on consumptioninsurance is growing fast, little research has beenconducted on how rural consumption insurance is affected bydemocracy. In this paper the authors examine how consumptioninsurance of Chinese rural residents is affected if thelocal leader is democratically elected. Exploring a uniquepanel data set of 1,400 households from 1987 to 2002, theyfind that consumption insurance is more complete when thehouseholds are in villages with elected village leaders.Furthermore, democracy improves consumption insurance onlyfor the poor and middle-income farmers, but not for therich. These findings underline the importance of democraticgovernance for ensuring better rural consumption insuranceand poverty reduction.