Income Inequality and Rural Poverty: The Role of Government Transfers
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| Title | Income Inequality and Rural Poverty: The Role of Government Transfers
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| Author | Wu Haitao, Ding Shijun and Wan Guanghua |
| Organization | Zhongnan University of Economics and Law;Yunnan University of Finance and Economics |
| Email | wuhan_haitao@aliyun.com；dingshijun2006@yahoo.com.cn；guanghuawan@yahoo.com |
| Key Words | Income Inequality; Transfer Income; Poverty Decomposition; Subsidy |
| Abstract | Applying a poverty level decomposition approach to 11years rural household survey data from central China, this paper analyzes the impact of government transfers on income inequality and rural poverty. It is found that unequal income distribution rather than income endowments is mainly responsible for the existence of poverty. Government transfers and relief income aiming at the poor help alleviate inequality and poverty, but they were not targeting the poorest. Unequal distribution of production subsidies actually led to higher poverty. Thus, it is important to make subsidies pro-poor. |
| Serial Number | WP551 |
| Time | 2013-11-20 |
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