China's Growth and Poverty Reduction : Trends between 1990 and 1999

Chen, Shaohua ; Wang, Yan

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ABSOLUTE POVERTY LINE;    ANNUAL GROWTH;    ANNUAL GROWTH RATE;    ANNUAL INCOME;    ASIAN CRISES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2651
RP-ID  :  WPS2651

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The authors investigate recent rends inpoverty, and inequality in China, decomposing data onpoverty reduction to see who has benefited most fromChina's economic growth. They find that, by severalmeasures, poverty declined significantly in the 1990s,across a wide range of poverty lines, except that a slightslowdown in China's export, and economic growth in1997-99 might have hurt the poor. There was a slightincrease in the poverty headcount between 1997 and 1999,using lower poverty lines, and a worsening of the povertygap index. Average per capita consumption declined forfarmers, especially those living in poor regions such asGans, Heilongjiang, Sanxi, and Xinjiang. It is unclearwhether this decline was attributable to Asia'seconomic crisis. Economic growth contributed significantlyto poverty reduction, but rising inequality worsened bothrural, and urban income distributions - except during theAsian crisis, when the distribution remained relativelystable. The poor benefited far less than the rich fromeconomic growth. Income growth reached, or exceeded theaverage growth rate only for the richest twenty percent ofthe population. The authors then examine the relationshipbetween human capital, growth, and poverty. They find thatthe accumulation of human capital had slowed, and that thereis a huge regional disparity in human capital stock. And thedistribution of education is becoming increasingly skewed.China must address this problem if it is to succeed inattacking poverty, and inequality.