Financial Resilience in China: Conceptual Framework, Risk and Protective Factors, and Empirical Evidence

As economic downturns and social uncertainties arise domestically and globally, the capability to cope with financial emergencies and adversities, known as financial resilience, becomes increasingly crucial. It needs particular attention when those developmental risks impact individuals and families at the micro level. However, existing studies mainly explored financial resilience at a macro level, using simple indicators, and in developed countries. These prevent us from understanding and improving people’s financial well-being and its predictors both theoretically and practically. This study aims to fill these research gaps in conceptualization, measurement, and context for the first time. It builds upon relevant theories on resilience, financial well-being, intersectionality, and China’s context to develop and examine a financial resilience conceptual framework. The framework comprises four components: current asset, financial access, financial literacy, and social capital. It also includes four levels ranging from financially vulnerable to low, moderate, and high financially resilient. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies, this study provided an overview of family financial resilience in mainland China. One-fifth of the sampled 3710 families were financially vulnerable or low resilient. Fifteen demographic and socioeconomic determinants, except for region and sex, were significantly associated with financial resilience. The study further identified four combined scenarios featuring benchmarks, cumulative risk factors, and protective factors. These findings have implications for targeted policies and services on financial resilience enhancement, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development in countries with developmental risks. It inspires new perspectives for finance and family studies and suggests specific directions for financial well-being research.