Suchergebnisse

We conduct the first systematic evaluation of the world's largest community-based development program—China's flagship poverty alleviation program began in 2001 which finances public investments in designated poor villages based on participatory village planning. We use matching methods and a panel household and village data set with national coverage to compare changes from 2001 to 2004 in designated poor villages that began plan investments and in designated poor villages that had yet to begin plan investments. We find that the program significantly increased both government- and village-financed investments. While the program did not increase the income or consumption of poorer households, it did increase the income and consumption of richer households by 6.1 to 9.2%. We also find suggestive evidence that governance matters in the distribution of program benefits. Relative gains were greater for richer households in villages with more educated leaders, and higher quality village committees delivered greater benefits to both richer and poorer households.

AT THE SECOND PLENARY SESSION OF THE TWELFTH PARTY CONGRESS ON OCTOBER 11 AND 12, 1983, CHINA MADE A DECISION ON A THREEYEAR PARTY CONSOLIDATION FOR THE ELIMINATION OF THE LEFTISTS, BUT ONLY A FEW DAYS AFTER THIS PLENUM IT SUDDENLY LAUNCHED ANOTHER CAMPAIGN AGAINST SPIRITUAL POLLUTION FOR THE ELIMINATION OF THE RIGHTISTS. THIS DRASTIC CHANGE SURPRISED MANY FOREIGNERS AS WELL AS THE CHINESE PEOPLE. ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL STATEMENTS, THIS CAMPAIGN WAS TO LAST A LONG PERIOD OF TIME AND PROCEED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, BUT ONLY ONE AND A HALF MONTHS LATER IT WAS RESTRICTED AND WAS QUITELY CANCELED BY THE END OF JANUARY 1984. WHY DID CHINA LAUNCH SUCH A CAMPAIGN ON THE EVE OF PARTY RECTIFICATION? WHO WAS STANDING BEHIND THE SCENES? WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED IN THIS CAMPAIGN? WHY WAS THIS CAMPAIGN SHORT-LIVED? AND WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF THIS CAMPAIGN? THIS ARTICLE TRIES TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.

Most privatizations around the world take the form of staged privatization with multistage lockups and step-by-step unlocking of shares. A lockup prevents the shares of a company from being sold to the public for a specified or unspecified period of time. This paper presents a theory and provides empirical evidence for staged privatization under market forces. The theory is based on a specification of a lockup effect on demand, where the existence of this lockup effect is shown by our empirical analysis. With this theory, we can analyze how various factors, such as the lockup effect, demand elasticity, growth potential and business fluctuations, affect staged privatization, in particular, the equilibrium speed of privatization. Our paper is the first to analyze a market-oriented, multistage privatization process, instead of a fully government-controlled or centrally planned process. Interestingly, staged privatization resembles initial public offerings (IPOs). Hence, our study can shed light on IPOs from a unique angle. Our empirical analysis provides evidence in support of our theoretical findings. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. ; postprint

We evaluate the effectiveness of regional targeting in China's large-scale poverty alleviation program begun in 1986 by analyzing a panel data set of all counties in China for the period 1981–1995. Estimates of models of poor county designation and poverty fund allocation and newly defined targeting gap and targeting error measures show that political factors have affected targeting and that leakage has increased while coverage has improved. Only one of the three main programs is progressive. Growth model estimates find that poor county designation increased incomes per capita by 2.28% per year during 1985–1992 and 0.91% during 1992–1995. These results are relatively robust to redefining control groups using propensity-score matching methods.

Abstract. The aim of this study is to characterize the extreme rainfall event on 21–22 July 2012 in Beijing, and its impact on human vulnerability. Based on the available meteorological and rainfall data from Beijing meteorological stations and Surface Weather Observation Stations, the study draws hourly rainfall maps to simulate the rainfall amount and spatial distribution. Using these maps, this paper provides a quantitative analysis of the impact of the temporal and spatial characteristics of rainfall on the vulnerability of three population groups, according to age, gender and total number of victims. The results of three linear regression models indicate the different effects of extreme rainfall parameters on victims with different characteristics. The analysis of victim data in this extreme rainfall event represents the distribution and characteristics of victims in the eight affected districts, and concludes that the "vulnerable group" are males and adults in this extreme rainfall event. This paper is an initial effort to analyze the impact of an extreme rainfall event on the vulnerability of populations with different characteristics quantitatively, which can be used by stakeholders to prioritize the extreme rainfall event impact issues, and develop contingency plans to address and prevent the human and structural damages caused by the extreme rainfall events.

We analyse intertemporal poverty in two important dimensions – income and nutrition – in less developed northwest China during 2000–2004. Household intertemporal deprivations in these dimensions are estimated using measures which are sensitive to the precise sequence in which poor and non-poor spells occur. A generalised recursive selection model is then proposed to investigate the determinants of intertemporal deprivation in each dimension, allowing for the possibility that correlated unobservables drive the dual deprivations. Improvement in agricultural production is crucial for reducing both dimensions of intertemporal deprivation. We find evidence suggestive of intertemporal income-nutrition poverty traps. Higher labour productivity, especially in agriculture rather than local off-farm activities or out-migration, holds much potential for breaking the vicious circle. Agricultural innovation and mechanisation, regarded by the government as indispensable, yield mixed outcomes for alleviating intertemporal multi-dimensional deprivations.