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Education and the Poverty Trap in Rural China: Closing the Trap

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  • John Knight
  • Li Shi
  • Deng Quheng

Abstract

This is an ambitious attempt to view the relationships involving education and income as forming a system, and one that can generate a poverty trap. The setting is rural China, and the data are from a national household survey for 2002, designed with research hypotheses in mind. The paper shows how and why the returns to education vary according to household and community income. It examines the effects of education on income, innovation, health and happiness, and shows how education can be important in helping people to escape from various dimensions of poverty. The results are brought together to form an empirical model of a poverty trap, and the implications for poverty analysis and for educational policy are considered.

Suggested Citation

  • John Knight & Li Shi & Deng Quheng, 2010. "Education and the Poverty Trap in Rural China: Closing the Trap," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 1-24.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:38:y:2010:i:1:p:1-24
    DOI: 10.1080/13600810903551595
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    11. Helliwell, John F., 2003. "How's life? Combining individual and national variables to explain subjective well-being," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 331-360, March.
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    13. John Knight & Li Shi & Deng Quheng, 2009. "Education and the Poverty Trap in Rural China: Setting the Trap," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 311-332.
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    17. 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.
    18. Rafael Di Tella & Robert MacCulloch, 2006. "Some Uses of Happiness Data in Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, Winter.
    19. John Knight & Lina Song, 2003. "Chinese Peasant Choices: Migration, Rural Industry or Farming," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 123-148.
    20. Phillips, Joseph M, 1994. "Farmer Education and Farmer Efficiency: A Meta-Analysis," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(1), pages 149-165, October.
    21. John Knight & Sharada Weir & Tassew Woldehanna, 2003. "The role of education in facilitating risk-taking and innovation in agriculture," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(6), pages 1-22.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jing You & Samuel Annim, 2014. "The Impact of Microcredit on Child Education: Quasi-experimental Evidence from Rural China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(7), pages 926-948, July.
    2. Hanewald, Katja & Jia, Ruo & Liu, Zining, 2021. "Why is inequality higher among the old? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Gregorio Gimenez & Denisa Ciobanu & Beatriz Barrado, 2021. "A Proposal of Spatial Measurement of Peer Effect through Socioeconomic Indices and Unsatisfied Basic Needs," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-20, May.
    4. John Knight, 2014. "Inequality in China: An Overview," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 1-19.
    5. Zhang, Huafeng, 2014. "The poverty trap of education: Education–poverty connections in Western China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 47-58.
    6. Katsushi S. Imai & Jing You, 2014. "Poverty Dynamics of Households in Rural China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(6), pages 898-923, December.
    7. Zhang, Huafeng, 2017. "Opportunity or new poverty trap: Rural-urban education disparity and internal migration in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 112-124.
    8. Wei Liu & Jie Xu & Jie Li & Shuzhuo Li, 2019. "Rural Households’ Poverty and Relocation and Settlement: Evidence from Western China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-17, July.
    9. Imai, Katsushi S. & Gaiha, Raghav & Thapa, Ganesh, 2015. "Does non-farm sector employment reduce rural poverty and vulnerability? Evidence from Vietnam and India," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 47-61.
    10. John Knight & Terry Sicular & Ximing Yue, 2011. "Educational Inequality in China: The Intergenerational Dimension," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 201113, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    11. Isaac Mwangi & Rosemary Atieno, 2018. "Impact of Financial Inclusion on Consumption Expenditure in Kenya," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(5), pages 114-128, May.
    12. John Knight, 2014. "Economic Causes and Cures of Social Instability in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(2), pages 5-21, March.
    13. Emran,M. Shahe & Sun,Yan - GSP05, 2015. "Are the children of uneducated farmers doubly disadvantaged ? farm, nonfarm and intergenerational educational mobility in rural China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7459, The World Bank.
    14. James Alm & Yongzheng Liu, 2014. "China's Tax-for-Fee Reform and Village Inequality," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 38-64, March.
    15. You, Jing, 2014. "Risk, under-investment in agricultural assets and dynamic asset poverty in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 27-45.
    16. Katsushi S. Imai & Raghav Gaiha & Woojin Kang & Samuel Annim & Ganesh Thapa, 2012. "Does Risk Matter? A Semi-parametric Model for Educational Choices in the Presence of Uncertainty," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1226, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    17. Terry Sicular & Mengbing Zhu, 2022. "The Big Expansion of Rural Secondary Schooling during the Cultural Revolution and The Returns to Education in Rural China," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 202212, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    18. Emran, M. Shahe & Sun, Yan, 2014. "Are the Children of Uneducated Farmers Doubly Doomed? Farm, Nonfarm and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Rural China," MPRA Paper 59230, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Lu, Haiyan & Zhao, Pengjun & Hu, Haoyu & Yan, Jie & Chen, Xiaoping, 2023. "Exploring the heterogeneous impact of road infrastructure on rural residents’ income: Evidence from nationwide panel data in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 155-166.
    20. Shi Li, 2014. "Poverty Reduction and Effects of Pro-poor Policies in Rural China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(2), pages 22-41, March.
    21. Yi Peng & Xuewen Li & Li Huang & Shuli Jiang & Yelin Xu & Yani Lai, 2018. "Risks of Developing Concentrated Rural Settlement after the Wenchuan Earthquake in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.

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