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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2021, Vol. 20 Issue (4): 943-952    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(21)63616-X
Section 2: Poverty alleviation through industrial development Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Off-farm employment and poverty alleviation in rural China
LI Shao-ping1, DONG Yong-qing2, ZHANG Lin-xiu3, 4, LIU Cheng-fang1 
1 China Center for Agricultural Policy, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R.China
2 College of Management and Economics/Center for Social Science Survey and Data, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, P.R.China
3 UN Environment Programme-International Ecosystem Management Partnership, Beijing 100101, P.R.China
4 Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modelling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, P.R.China
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摘要  

非农就业参与率的不断提高和贫困人口的大幅下降构成了过去四十年中国经济增长历程的两个重要现象。虽然已经有很多文献研究这两个现象,但考察二者之间关联的研究还不多见。更好地理解非农就业在中国农村减贫中的作用不但对中国也对那些致力于消除贫困的国家至关重要。在这里,我们考察了非农就业对于中国农村减贫的影响。利用两套具有全国代表性的面板数据(中国全国农村调查和中国农村发展调查),本文发现了非农就业有助于中国农村减贫的证据。具体而言,如果某个农户的非农就业参与率提高10个百分点,那么其成为贫困户的可能性将降低0.88个百分点,而如果某个贫困户的非农就业参与率提高10个百分点,那么其脱贫的可能性将提高3.5个百分点。因此,非农就业不但可以阻止农户成为贫困户也可以帮助那些已经是贫困的农户摆脱贫困。




Abstract  
Two phenomena in the history of China’s economic growth during the last four decades are the increase in the share of off-farm employment and the progress in poverty alleviation in rural China.  Although both of them have been well documented in the literature, less is known about the linkage between the two.  To better understand the role that off-farm employment has played in poverty alleviation in rural China is critically important not only for China but also for those countries that are trying to reduce poverty.  Here, we examine the impact of off-farm employment on poverty alleviation in rural China.  Using the data from two nationally representative household panel surveys (China National Rural Survey and China Rural Development Survey), this paper provides supporting evidence that off-farm employment contributes to poverty alleviation in rural China.  Specifically, if household participation in off-farm employment increases by 10 percentage points, the likelihood for a non-poor household to fall into poverty will decrease by 0.88 percentage point whereas the likelihood for a poor household to climb out of poverty will increase by 3.5 percentage points.  In a word, off-employment can not only prevent rural residents to fall into poverty but also help those already in poverty climb out of it.
Keywords:  off-farm employment        poverty alleviation        rural China  
Received: 24 August 2020   Accepted:
Fund: The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71861147003 and 71925009), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20010303), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M650361).
Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence LIU Cheng-fang, Tel: +86-10-62767016, E-mail: cfliu.ccap@pku.edu.cn    
About author:  LI Shao-ping, E-mail: shaoping.ccap@pku.edu.cn;

Cite this article: 

LI Shao-ping, DONG Yong-qing, ZHANG Lin-xiu, LIU Cheng-fang. 2021. Off-farm employment and poverty alleviation in rural China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 20(4): 943-952.

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