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Exploring China's Potential Child Poverty

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  • Yangyang Shen
  • Sabina Alkire

Abstract

This paper estimates child poverty in China using 2018 data from the China Household Income Project. Applying the Alkire–Foster drawer approach, we constructed a multidimensional poverty indicator system that accounted for multiple factors contributing to a child's development and well‐being, based on which we estimated multidimensional poverty experienced by children. Children's poverty varied by age, gender, rural/urban settings, and geographic region. By extending the Alkire–Foster drawer approach, two important features of child poverty in China were found, which had normally been neglected by per capita poverty measures: poor children in nonpoor families and unequal allocations to different children within the same families. The results showed that more than 40 percent of multidimensionally poor children lived in nonpoor families. Unequal resource allocation within families was observed in half of the families. These two features of child poverty require more policy attention and the Chinese government should prioritize addre ssing multidimensional child poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Yangyang Shen & Sabina Alkire, 2022. "Exploring China's Potential Child Poverty," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(1), pages 82-105, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:30:y:2022:i:1:p:82-105
    DOI: 10.1111/cwe.12406
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sabina Alkire & James E. Foster & Suman Seth & Maria Emma Santos & Jose M. Roche & Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 7 - Data and Analysis," OPHI Working Papers 88, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    2. Sabina Alkire and James Foster, 2019. "The Role of Inequality in Poverty Measurement," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp126.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    3. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James & Seth, Suman & Santos, Maria Emma & Roche, Jose Manuel & Ballon, Paola, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199689491.
    4. Sabina Alkire, James Foster, 2019. "The Role of Inequality in Poverty Measurement," OPHI Working Papers 126, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    5. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 476-487, August.
    6. Sabina Alkire & James E. Foster & Suman Seth & Maria Emma Santos & Jose M. Roche & Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 2 - The Framework," OPHI Working Papers 83, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    7. Alkire, Sabina & Santos, Maria Emma, 2014. "Measuring Acute Poverty in the Developing World: Robustness and Scope of the Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 251-274.
    8. Nancy Qian, 2008. "Missing Women and the Price of Tea in China: The Effect of Sex-Specific Earnings on Sex Imbalance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 1251-1285.
    9. Sabina Alkire, Rizwan Ul Haq, Abdul Alim, 2019. "The State of Multidimensional Child Poverty in South Asia: A Contextual and Gendered View," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp127_vs2.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    10. Di Qi & Yichao Wu, 2019. "Comparing the Extent and Levels of Child Poverty by the Income and Multidimensional Deprivation Approach in China," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(2), pages 627-645, April.
    11. Sabina Alkire, James E. Foster, Suman Seth, Maria Emma Santos, Jose M. Roche and Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 9 - Distribution and Dynamics," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp090_ch9.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    12. Sabina Alkire, 2018. "The Research Agenda on Multidimensional Poverty Measurement: Important and As-yet Unanswered Questions," OPHI Working Papers 119, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    13. Sabina Alkire, James E. Foster, Suman Seth, Maria Emma Santos, José M. Roche and Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 7 - Data and Analysis," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp088_ch7.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    14. Andy Sumner & Christopher Hoy & Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez, 2020. "Estimates of the impact of COVID-19 on global poverty," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-43, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Sabina Alkire & Rizwan Ul & Haq Abdul Alim, 2019. "The State of Multidimensional Child Poverty in South Asia: A Contextual and Gendered View," OPHI Working Papers 127, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    16. Sabina Alkire & James E. Foster & Suman Seth & Maria Emma Santos & Jose M. Roche & Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 9 - Distribution and Dynamics," OPHI Working Papers 90, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    17. Sabina Alkire, James E. Foster, Suman Seth, Maria Emma Santos, José M. Roche and Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 2 - The Framework," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp083_ch2.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
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