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AbstractPoverty is represented not only by objective well‐being indicators which include income and consumption levels, but also by subjective indicators which reflect what a person feels. It is estimated in this article that the incidence of subjective well‐being poverty (SWP) among the Chinese rural elderly population in 2006 was 9.7 per cent, about 4.2 times as much as that of the country's total rural population in the same year, which was 2.3 per cent. Over 16 per cent of the rural elderly population and 11.5 per cent of the urban elderly population rated their life satisfaction as poor or very poor. In terms of SWP, senior citizens, especially those who live in rural areas or who are women or very aged, have become a special group among the poor in China. This article suggests that China's social policies for the new stage take into account the issue of absolute poverty and also that of SWP. A multi‐dimensional strategy system targeting the issue of poverty needs to be established, and a policy system to address poverty reduction as well as old age security and care should be implemented.

This paper empirically investigates the relation between uncertainty and investment among China's listed companies, and analyzes the influence of government control on the investment-uncertainty relation. We find that there is a negative relation between total firm uncertainty and investment in China's listed companies. However, this holds only for privately controlled firms. Among privately controlled listed firms, investment is negatively related to firm-specific uncertainty, whereas among government-controlled ones, investment is positively related to market uncertainty. We also find that the risk-taking preference of government-controlled listed companies is greater among those firms with fewer investment opportunities. Finally, among financially distressed firms, the negative relation between investment and uncertainty becomes nonsignificant because of risk shifting, which is more serious among government-controlled listed companies. We conclude that government control leads to state interference and weak corporate governance, which, in turn, distorts investment decision making among listed companies.

This paper uses the living standards method to estimate the extra costs for older people with functional disabilities in urban areas in Northern China. The research finds that the cost for older people who live alone is higher than those who live with other family members, and their living standard is lower. The costs increase with the age, especially for the oldest old people who live alone. The cost for older women is higher than their male counterparts. The extra costs of support for people with functional disabilities decrease the overall living standard of the household.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are used for infrastructure projects, but they usually involve risk because of their complexity. The construction and operation stages are the core of successful infrastructure PPP projects. This study analysed the efficiency and determinants of the construction and operation stages of Chinese infrastructure PPP projects conducted by thirty provinces from 2008–2013. During the five years examined, the efficiency of infrastructure PPP projects in the construction stage exhibited a downward spiral, but showed a gradual upward trend in the operation stage. The results showed that government supervision was one of the most significant positive influences on construction efficiency, while risk allocation had a greater positive impact on efficiency during the operation stage. The evidence in this study is impactful because it provides insights for practitioners regarding key determinants for improving efficiency in the construction and operation stages of infrastructure PPP projects.