Essays on Evaluating the Impacts of Poverty Alleviation and Farmland Acquisition Policies in Rural China

Abstract

This thesis comprises three essays on China’s poverty alleviation and farmland acquisition policies in rural China. I use panel datasets to explore the household and county-level effects of two poverty alleviation programs—the contiguous poor area (CPA) and targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) programs—and the compulsory farmland acquisition (CFA) policy. While the CPA and TPA programs both aim to resolve poverty in rural areas, they differ in their targets and approaches: CPA focuses on poverty at the regional level, while TPA focuses on poverty at the individual and household levels. In contrast, CFA is not directly related to poverty alleviation but is closely related to the livelihood of farmers.

The CPA strategy is aimed at alleviating poverty in rural regions in China with high concentrations of poverty. The first essay examines the effects of the strategy on county-level economic and income growth based on a panel dataset of more than 500 nationally designated poor counties over 11 years. The results from two difference-in differences methods show that the CPA strategy has contributed to both economic growth and an increase in residents’ income but has failed to narrow the urban–rural income gap.

TPA is a poverty alleviation strategy aimed at delivering customised interventions at the household level. The second essay examines its effects on household income based on a household panel survey and non-public administrative data. The results show that TPA has had unfavourable effects on household income. It also discusses the heterogeneous effects arising from the type of poverty and the important role of education of the household head.

The third essay assesses the effect of CFA on household consumption expenditure, which, based on the permanent income hypothesis, is an appropriate measure of household wellbeing. Using household panel survey data, I show that CFA increases the total consumption expenditure of households.