Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-12T17:41:48.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Asset Poverty in Urban China: A Study Using the 2002 Chinese Household Income Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2013

JIN HUANG ,
MINCHAO JIN ,
SUO DENG ,
BAORONG GUO ,
LI ZOU  and
MICHAEL SHERRADEN
JIN HUANG*
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, St Louis University, 221 N. Grand Blvd, St Louis, MO 63103, USA
MINCHAO JIN
Affiliation:
Center for Social Development, Washington University in St Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St Louis, MO 63130, USA email: [email protected]
SUO DENG
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Peking University, Beijing 100871 email: [email protected]
BAORONG GUO
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, University of Missouri-St Louis, 121 Bellerive Hall, One University Blvd., St Louis, MO 63121, USA email: [email protected]
LI ZOU
Affiliation:
Center for Social Development, Washington University in St Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St Louis, MO 63130, USA email: [email protected]
MICHAEL SHERRADEN
Affiliation:
Center for Social Development, Washington University in St Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St Louis, MO 63130, USA email: [email protected]
*
email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Defining asset poverty as insufficiency of assets to satisfy household basic needs for a limited period of time, the study examines asset-poverty rates in urban China using the 2002 survey data from the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP). We find that asset-poverty rates in urban China are lower than those of developed countries, in part due to Chinese households’ strong commitment to precautionary savings and the low poverty standards. However, the liquid asset-poverty rate is five times that of the income-poverty rate in urban China. Notably, the asset-poverty-gap ratio shows that most households in asset poverty have zero liquid assets or negative net worth. Asset building could be an integral part of the anti-poverty agenda to protect the poor from economic hardship and provide them with opportunities for economic growth.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , October 2013 , pp. 763 - 781
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Azpitarte, F. (2011), ‘Measurement and identification of asset-poor households: a cross-national comparison of Spain and the UK’, Journal of Economic Inequality, 9: 1, 87–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldacci, E., Callegari, G., Coady, D., Ding, D., Kumar, M., Tommasino, P. and Woo, J. (2010), Public Expenditures on Social Programs and Household Consumption in China, IMF Working Paper, Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.Google Scholar
Barceló, C. and Villanueva, E. (2010), The Response of Household Wealth to the Risk of Losing the Job: Evidence from Differences in Firing Costs, Madrid, Spain: Unidad de Publicaciones, Banco de España.Google Scholar
Beverly, S. and Sherraden, M. (1999), ‘Institutional determinants of savings: implications for low-income households’, Journal of Socio-Economics, 28: 457–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandolini, A., Magri, S. and Smeeding, T. (2010), ‘Asset-based measurement of poverty’, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 29: 2, 267–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caner, A. and Wolff, E. N. (2004), ‘Asset poverty in the United States, 1984–99: evidence from the panel study of income dynamics’, Review of Income and Wealth, 50: 4, 493–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamon, M. and Prasad, E. (2010), ‘Why are saving rates of urban households in China rising?’, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2: 1, 93–130.Google Scholar
Chen, J. and Barrientos, A. (2006), Extending Social Assistance in China: Lessons from the Minimum Living Standard Scheme, Manchester: Chronic Poverty Research Centre.Google Scholar
Cheng, Y. (2008), ‘The comparative analysis of China's urban and rural wealth distribution’, Journal of Financial Research, 12: 87–100 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Citro, C. and Michael, R. (1995), Measuring Poverty: A New Approach, Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Davis, D. and Feng, W. (2009), ‘Poverty and wealth in postsocialist China: an overview’, in Davis, D. S. and Feng, W. (eds.), Creating Wealth and Poverty in Postsocialist China, Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 3–19.Google Scholar
Deng, S., Sherraden, M., Huang, J. and Jin, M. (2013), ‘Asset opportunity for the poor: an asset-based policy agenda towards inclusive growth in China’, China Journal of Social Work, 6: 1, 40–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feng, J., He, L. and Sato, H. (2009), Public Pension and Household Saving: Evidence from Urban China, Fukino Research Project Discussion Paper Series, Tokyo, Japan: Hitotsubashi University.Google Scholar
Gao, Q., Garfinkel, I. and Zhai, F. (2009), ‘Anti-poverty effectiveness of the minimum living standard assistance policy in urban China’, Review of Income and Wealth, 55: S1, 630–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, B., Huang, J., Sherraden, M. and Zou, L. (2008a), ‘Dual incentives and dual asset building: policy implications of the Hutubi Rural Social Security Loan Programme in China’, Journal of Social Policy, 37: 3, 453–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, B., Huang, J., Zou, L. and Sherraden, M. (2008b), ‘Asset-based policy in rural China: an innovation in the retirement social insurance program’, China Journal of Social Work, 1: 1, 63–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gustafsson, B., Li, Shi and Sicular, T. (2008), ‘Inequality and public policy in China: issues and trends’, in Gustafsson, B., Li, Shi and Sicular, T. (eds.), Inequality and Public Policy in China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haveman, R. and Wolff, E. N. (2001), Who Are the Asset Poor?: Levels, Trends, and Composition, 1983–1998, Discussion Paper no. 1227–01, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Institute for Research on Poverty.Google Scholar
Kennickell, A. and Lusardi, A. (2005), Disentangling the Importance of the Precautionary Saving Motive, CFS Working Paper no. 2006/15, Frankfurt, Germany: Center for Financial Studies.Google Scholar
Khan, A. R. (2004), Growth, Inequality and Poverty in China: A Comparative Study of the Experience in the Periods Before and after the Asian Crisis, Employment and poverty discussion paper 15, Genève, Switzerland: International Labour Organization.Google Scholar
Li, H., Liu, P., Zhang, J. and Ma, N. (2007), ‘Economic returns to Communist Party membership: evidence from urban Chinese twins’, The Economic Journal, 117: 1504–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, S., Wei, Z. and Gustafsson, B. (2000), ‘Distribution of wealth among urban and township households in China’, Economic Research Journal, 3: 16–23 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Liang, Y., Huo, Z. and Liu, K (2010), ‘An empirical study of wealth distribution of urban and rural households in China’, Economic Research Journal, 10: 33–47 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Lusardi, A., Schneider, D. and Tufano, P. (2011), Financially Fragile Households: Evidence and Implications, NBER Working Paper 17072, Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, K.-S. and Kim, Y. (2013), ‘Asset poverty in Korea: levels and composition based on Wolff's definition’, International Journal of Social Welfare, 22: 2, 175–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meng, X. (2007), ‘Wealth accumulation and distribution in urban China’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 55: 4, 761–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nam, Y., Huang, J. and Sherraden, M. (2008), ‘Asset definitions’, in McKernan, S.-M. and Sherraden, M. (eds.), Asset Building and Low-Income Families, Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press, pp. 1–32.Google Scholar
Schneider, M. (2004), The Distribution of Wealth, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Sherraden, M. (1991), Asset and the Poor, New York: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Sherraden, M., Schreiner, M. and Beverly, S. (2003), ‘Income, institutions, and saving performance in individual development accounts’, Economic Development Quarterly, 17: 1, 95–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vasoo, S. and Lee, J. (2006), ‘Promoting social development through integration of the Central Provident Fund and public housing schemes in Singapore’, Social Devleopment Issues, 28: 2, 71–83.Google Scholar
Wei, S. and Zhang, X. (2009), The Competitive Saving Motive: Evidence from Rising Sex Ratios and Savings Rates in China, NBER Working Paper 15093, Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank (2009), From Poor Areas to Poor People: China's Evolving Poverty Reduction Agenda, Beijing, China: World Bank Office.Google Scholar
Zhao, R. and Ding, S. (2008), ‘The distribution of wealth in China’, in Gustafsson, B., Li, S. and Sicular, T. (eds.), Inequality and Public Policy in China, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 118–44.Google Scholar