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Child Income Poverty Levels and Trends in Urban China from 1989 to 2011

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  • Di Qi

    (Hohai University)

  • Yichao Wu

    (Southeast University)

Abstract

This paper fills the existing knowledge gap by examining the changes in the extent and nature of child poverty in urban China between 1989 and 2011, and contributes to the literature by using the relative income approach, different from the absolute income approach used in many previous studies. All waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey Data (CHNS) is used including the newest 2011 survey. Both the anchored and current relative poverty lines were constructed in this paper. In addition, the FGT index introduced by Foster et al. (Econometrica 52(3), 761–766, 1984) is used to measure income poverty gaps and inequalities. The findings show that income distribution has been unequal and the income gap has widened during the study period. Although China has achieved great economic growth since economic reform, the lower income group benefited much less from China's fast economic growth compared with the middle or higher income groups. The findings of this paper imply that policy makers need to pay more attention in future on reducing income inequality in urban China.

Suggested Citation

  • Di Qi & Yichao Wu, 2016. "Child Income Poverty Levels and Trends in Urban China from 1989 to 2011," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 9(4), pages 1043-1058, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:9:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s12187-015-9351-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-015-9351-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Sai, Ding, 2019. "Growing into Relative Income Poverty: Urban China 1988 to 2013," IZA Discussion Papers 12422, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Björn Gustafsson & Ding Sai, 2020. "Growing into Relative Income Poverty: Urban China, 1988–2013," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 73-94, January.
    3. Peng Peng & Hui Mao, 2023. "The Effect of Digital Financial Inclusion on Relative Poverty Among Urban Households: A Case Study on China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(2), pages 377-407, January.
    4. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Sai, Ding, 2023. "China's Urban Poor – Comparing Twice Poverty between Residents and Migrants in 2013 and 2018," IZA Discussion Papers 16255, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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