IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v116y2014i1p199-233.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Layoffs and Urban Poverty in the State-Owned Enterprise Communities in Shaanxi Province, China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhiming Cheng

Abstract

This paper applies a mixed methods approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods to examine urban poverty in China’s state-owned enterprise communities where laid-off workers concentrate. A sequential explanatory model using interviews, Participatory Poverty Assessments and a community household survey on textile and military industries in Shaanxi Province of north-western China shows that low-income households suffered multidimensional disadvantages. Qualitative techniques have helped to reveal the hidden aspects of poverty while statistical tools have captured holistic information on the communities. These approaches together (Q-squared) consider both the outsiders’ and insiders’ views on the laid-off poor and benefit the making of effective anti-poverty policies. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Zhiming Cheng, 2014. "Layoffs and Urban Poverty in the State-Owned Enterprise Communities in Shaanxi Province, China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 199-233, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:116:y:2014:i:1:p:199-233
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-013-0278-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11205-013-0278-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-013-0278-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jörg Schimmel, 2009. "Development as Happiness: The Subjective Perception of Happiness and UNDP’s Analysis of Poverty, Wealth and Development," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 93-111, March.
    2. Gustafsson,Björn A. & Shi,Li & Sicular,Terry (ed.), 2008. "Inequality and Public Policy in China," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521870450, October.
    3. World Bank, 2009. "China - From Poor Areas to Poor People : China’s Evolving Poverty Reduction Agenda - An Assessment of Poverty and Inequality in China," World Bank Publications - Reports 3031, The World Bank Group.
    4. Youqin Huang & Leiwen Jiang, 2009. "Housing Inequality in Transitional Beijing," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 936-956, December.
    5. Andrew Watson, 1998. "Enterprise Reform and Employment Change in Shaanxi Province," Chinese Economies Research Centre (CERC) Working Papers 1998-03, University of Adelaide, Chinese Economies Research Centre.
    6. Arie Kapteyn & Peter Kooreman & Rob Willemse, 1988. "Some Methodological Issues in the Implementation of Subjective Poverty Definitions," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 23(2), pages 222-242.
    7. Rojas, Mariano, 2008. "Experienced Poverty and Income Poverty in Mexico: A Subjective Well-Being Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1078-1093, June.
    8. Li, Bingqin, 2004. "Urban social exclusion in transitional China," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6309, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Laura Camfield & Kaneta Choudhury & Joe Devine, 2009. "Well-being, Happiness and Why Relationships Matter: Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 71-91, March.
    10. Deepa Narayan & Robert Chambers & Meera K. Shah & Patti Petesch, 2000. "Voices of the Poor : Crying Out for Change," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13848.
    11. Ravallion, Martin, 2008. "Miss-targeted or miss-measured?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 9-12, July.
    12. Chen, Zhihong, 2006. "Measuring the poverty lines for urban households in China--an equivalence scale method," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 239-252.
    13. Russell Smyth & Ingrid Nielsen & Qingguo Zhai, 2010. "Personal Well-being in Urban China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 231-251, January.
    14. Appleton, Simon & Song, Lina & Xia, Qingjie, 2010. "Growing out of Poverty: Trends and Patterns of Urban Poverty in China 1988-2002," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 665-678, May.
    15. Giles, John & Park, Albert & Zhang, Juwei, 2005. "What is China's true unemployment rate?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 149-170.
    16. Zhiming Cheng, 2010. "Poverty in China’s Urban Communities," China Report, , vol. 46(2), pages 143-173, May.
    17. Ingrid Nielsen & Olga Paritski & Russell Smyth, 2010. "Subjective Well-Being of Beijing Taxi Drivers," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(6), pages 721-733, December.
    18. John A. Bishop & Feijun Luo & Xi Pan, 2006. "Economic Transition And Subjective Poverty In Urban China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 52(4), pages 625-641, December.
    19. Fulong Wu, 2004. "Urban poverty and marginalization under market transition: the case of Chinese cities," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 401-423, June.
    20. Xianbi Huang, 2008. "Guanxi networks and job searches in China's emerging labour market: a qualitative investigation," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(3), pages 467-484, September.
    21. YUEH, Linda, 2009. "Self-employment in urban China: Networking in a transition economy," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 471-484, September.
    22. Russell Smyth & Xiaolei Qian, 2008. "Inequality and Happiness in Urban China," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 4(24), pages 1-10.
    23. Bingqin Li, 2004. "Urban Social Exclusion in Transitional China," CASE Papers 082, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    24. Addison, Tony & Hulme, David & Kanbur, Ravi (ed.), 2009. "Poverty Dynamics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199557554.
    25. John Knight & Ramani Gunatilaka, 2008. "Aspirations, Adaptation and Subjective Well-Being of Rural-Urban Migrants in China," Economics Series Working Papers 381, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    26. KNIGHT, John & SONG, Lina & GUNATILAKA, Ramani, 2009. "Subjective well-being and its determinants in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 635-649, December.
    27. Theo Goedhart & Victor Halberstadt & Arie Kapteyn & Bernard van Praag, 1977. "The Poverty Line: Concept and Measurement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(4), pages 503-520.
    28. Keith Griffin & Azizur Rahman Khan & Carl Riskin, 1999. "Income Distribution in Urban China during the Period of Economic Reform and Globalization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 296-300, May.
    29. John R. Logan & Yiping Fang & Zhanxin Zhang, 2009. "Access to Housing in Urban China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 914-935, December.
    30. Martin Ravallion, 0. "Decentralizing Eligibility for a Federal Antipoverty Program: A Case Study for China," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 23(1), pages 1-30.
    31. Qingbin Wang & Guanming Shi & Yi Zheng, 2002. "Changes in income inequality and welfare under economic transition: evidence from urban China," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(15), pages 989-991.
    32. Carvalho, S. & White, H., 1997. "Combining the Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches to Poverty Measurement and Analysis. The Practice and the Potential," Papers 366, World Bank - Technical Papers.
    33. Unknown, 2005. "Forward," 2005 Conference: Slovenia in the EU - Challenges for Agriculture, Food Science and Rural Affairs, November 10-11, 2005, Moravske Toplice, Slovenia 183804, Slovenian Association of Agricultural Economists (DAES).
    34. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon & John Knight, 2006. "Subjective well-being poverty vs. Income poverty and capabilities poverty?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7), pages 1199-1224.
    35. Mariano Rojas, 2004. "Well-being and the Complexity of Poverty: A Subjective Well-being Approach," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-29, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    36. Hussain, Athar & Lanjouw, Peter & Stern, Nicholas, 1994. "Income inequalities in China: Evidence from household survey data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(12), pages 1947-1957, December.
    37. Zhenghui Chen & Gareth Davey, 2008. "Happiness and Subjective Wellbeing in Mainland China," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 589-600, December.
    38. Luo, Xubei & Zhu, Nong, 2008. "Rising income inequality in China : a race to the top," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4700, The World Bank.
    39. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:4:y:2008:i:24:p:1-10 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Menzies, Jane & Chavan, Meena & Jack, Robert & Scarparo, Simona & Chirico, Francesco, 2024. "Australian indigenous female entrepreneurs: The role of adversity quotient," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Wei Li & Jianxun Chen & Hans Hendrischke, 2017. "An Institutional Perspective on Individual Work Well-Being: Evidence from China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 187-218, May.
    3. Cheng, Zhiming & Tani, Massimiliano & Wang, Haining, 2021. "Energy poverty and entrepreneurship," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Cheng, Zhiming, 2022. "Communist Party branch and labour rights: Evidence from Chinese entrepreneurs," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Saeed Solaymani & Negin Vaghefi & Fatimah Kari, 2019. "The Multidimensional Poverty Measure among Malaysian Employee Provident Fund (EPF) Retirees," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(5), pages 1353-1371, November.
    6. Cheng, Zhiming, 2021. "Education and consumption: Evidence from migrants in Chinese cities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 206-215.
    7. Zhiming Cheng & Vinod Mishra & Ingrid Nielsen & Russell Smyth & Ben Zhe Wang, 2017. "Wellbeing in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 1-10, May.
    8. Zhiming Cheng, 2014. "The Effects of Employee Involvement and Participation on Subjective Wellbeing: Evidence from Urban China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 457-483, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Xiao, Saizi & Yeoh, Emile, 2018. "Subjective well-being in China, 2005–2010: The role of relative income, gender, and location," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 83-101.
    2. Bjorn Gustafsson & Ximing Yue, 2012. "Rural people's perception of income adequacy in China," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(3), pages 264-280, August.
    3. Khadija Shams & Alexander Kadow, 2023. "Subjective Well-Being, Health and Socio-Demographic Factors Related to COVID-19 Vaccination: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Sample Survey Study from 2021–2022 in Urban Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(16), pages 1-11, August.
    4. Ravallion, Martin, 2012. "Poor, or just feeling poor ? on using subjective data in measuring poverty," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5968, The World Bank.
    5. Siu Ming Chan & Hung Wong, 2020. "Impact of Income, Deprivation and Social Exclusion on Subjective Poverty: A Structural Equation Model of Multidimensional Poverty in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 971-990, December.
    6. Wen Xin & Russell Smyth, 2010. "Economic Openness and Subjective Well‐being in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 18(2), pages 22-40, March.
    7. Ingrid Nielsen & Russell Smyth & Qingguo Zhai, 2010. "Subjective Well-Being of China’s Off-Farm Migrants," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 315-333, June.
    8. Vinod Mishra & Ingrid Nielsen & Russell Smyth, 2014. "How Does Relative Income and Variations in Short-Run Wellbeing Affect Wellbeing in the Long Run? Empirical Evidence From China’s Korean Minority," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 67-91, January.
    9. Pamela Abbott & Claire Wallace & Ka Lin & Christian Haerpfer, 2016. "The Quality of Society and Life Satisfaction in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 653-670, June.
    10. Khadija Shams & Alexander Kadow, 2023. "COVID-19 and Subjective Well-Being in Urban Pakistan in the Beginning of the Pandemic: A Socio-Economic Analysis," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 93-113, February.
    11. Vinod Mishra & Ingrid Nielsen & Russell Smyth, 2010. "Relative Income, Temporary Life Shocks and Subjective Wellbeing in the Long-run," Monash Economics Working Papers 51-10, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    12. Nor Fairani Ahmad & Mariani Mansor & Laily Paim, 2016. "Income Poverty and Well-Being among Vulnerable Households: A Study in Malaysia," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(2), pages 195-195, February.
    13. Khadija Shams, 2016. "Developments in the Measurement of Subjective Well-Being and Poverty: An Economic Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(6), pages 2213-2236, December.
    14. 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).
    15. Matthys, Marie-Luise & Acharya, Sushant & Khatri, Sanjaya, 2021. "“Before cardamom, we used to face hardship”: Analyzing agricultural commercialization effects in Nepal through a local concept of the Good Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    16. Gareth Davey & Ricardo Rato, 2012. "Subjective Wellbeing in China: A Review," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 333-346, April.
    17. Zhiming Cheng & Haining Wang & Russell Smyth, 2014. "Happiness and job satisfaction in urban China: A comparative study of two generations of migrants and urban locals," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(10), pages 2160-2184, August.
    18. Fulong Wu, 2009. "Land Development, Inequality and Urban Villages in China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 885-889, December.
    19. Khadija Shams & Alexander Kadow, 2019. "The Relationship Between Subjective Well-Being and Work–Life Balance Among Labourers in Pakistan," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 681-690, December.
    20. Ingrid Nielsen & Sen Sendjaya, 2014. "Wellbeing Among Indonesian Labour Migrants to Malaysia: Implications of the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 919-938, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:116:y:2014:i:1:p:199-233. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.