What’s Next for Poverty Reduction Policies in China?

videoType

dynamic-media

videoDmUrl

keyFrameImage

timestamp

00:01 Hello,

00:02 everybody.

00:02 Um,

00:03 today is International Poverty Reduction Day,

00:05 and it's a good opportunity to talk a little bit about

00:08 work that we've done with the Center for International Knowledge and Development

00:12 to study China's poverty reduction experience over the last 40 years.

00:16 As many people know,

00:18 China

00:18 managed to bring close to 800 million people out of poverty.

00:22 What were the main factors?

00:23 Well,

00:24 principally economic growth.

00:26 China started the reform and opening up period

00:29 at a very low level of per capita income,

00:31 but subsequently saw four decades of extremely high rates of economic growth.

00:36 In part,

00:37 those rates were so high because China was so

00:40 poor to begin with but had quite good assets such

00:42 as good education level and good healthcare that allowed it

00:45 to catch up with the other East Asian countries,

00:48 uh,

00:48 reasonably quickly.

00:49 The second factor were the market reforms themselves because

00:53 those opened opportunities for poor people,

00:56 first in agriculture,

00:57 then in the coastal urban cities that were connected with international exports,

01:02 and then in the interior provinces as the country invested

01:05 in infrastructure to connect those provinces with global markets.

01:09 The third factor though,

01:11 is that the government role was quite important too.

01:14 Through the investments in infrastructure I already mentioned,

01:16 and then in the last decade,

01:18 after around 2010,

01:20 increasingly also by direct transfers to poor households.

01:24 The DBA system for example,

01:25 the introduction of rural pensions,

01:27 but also the investment in government services such as health and education.

01:33 So what does this mean for China going forward?

01:35 Well,

01:36 the first thing is that growth obviously will continue to be important,

01:40 but growth rates have been slowing.

01:42 So for China to achieve further reductions in poverty,

01:45 it will have to pay more attention to the growth and inequality

01:49 because this Increased during the 1st 40 years or stabilized in the last 10 years,

01:54 but going forward,

01:55 really government policies should try and bring inequality down

02:00 because as a as growth rates slow,

02:02 the reduction of inequality may play an important

02:04 role in the future reduction of poverty.

02:07 Um,

02:08 but

02:09 for other countries,

02:10 what this means

02:11 is that,

02:12 uh,

02:13 economic growth is an important aspect of poverty reduction,

02:16 that the government can,

02:18 uh,

02:18 accelerate economic growth through these market-oriented reforms,

02:22 that investment in government services and in

02:24 infrastructure can play an important role,

02:27 and

02:28 that as countries get richer,

02:31 Government support policies and direct transfers will play an important role,

02:35 and that's the final point.

02:36 As China aspires to become a high-income country,

02:39 what it means to be poor in China itself will also have to shift.

02:42 The poverty standard will likely change,

02:45 and that means who

02:46 Poor in China today may be very different.

02:49 For instance,

02:49 at a higher poverty standard of $5 a day,

02:52 one third of the poor in China live in urban areas.

02:55 They may require different support mechanisms.

02:57 So the story of poverty reduction in China is not finished.

03:01 The efforts continue,

03:03 but today is a good time to look back at what was achieved,

03:06 to learn the right lessons,

03:08 and to look forward on what is next.

03:10 Thanks a lot for listening.

showAllTimestamps

no

transcript

Hello, everybody. Um, today is International Poverty Reduction Day, and it's a good opportunity to talk a little bit about work that we've done with the Center for International Knowledge and Development to study China's poverty reduction experience over the last 40 years. As many people know, China managed to bring close to 800 million people out of poverty. What were the main factors? Well, principally economic growth. China started the reform and opening up period at a very low level of per capita income, but subsequently saw four decades of extremely high rates of economic growth. In part, those rates were so high because China was so poor to begin with but had quite good assets such as good education level and good healthcare that allowed it to catch up with the other East Asian countries, uh, reasonably quickly. The second factor were the market reforms themselves because those opened opportunities for poor people, first in agriculture, then in the coastal urban cities that were connected with international exports, and then in the interior provinces as the country invested in infrastructure to connect those provinces with global markets. The third factor though, is that the government role was quite important too. Through the investments in infrastructure I already mentioned, and then in the last decade, after around 2010, increasingly also by direct transfers to poor households. The DBA system for example, the introduction of rural pensions, but also the investment in government services such as health and education. So what does this mean for China going forward? Well, the first thing is that growth obviously will continue to be important, but growth rates have been slowing. So for China to achieve further reductions in poverty, it will have to pay more attention to the growth and inequality because this Increased during the 1st 40 years or stabilized in the last 10 years, but going forward, really government policies should try and bring inequality down because as a as growth rates slow, the reduction of inequality may play an important role in the future reduction of poverty. Um, but for other countries, what this means is that, uh, economic growth is an important aspect of poverty reduction, that the government can, uh, accelerate economic growth through these market-oriented reforms, that investment in government services and in infrastructure can play an important role, and that as countries get richer, Government support policies and direct transfers will play an important role, and that's the final point. As China aspires to become a high-income country, what it means to be poor in China itself will also have to shift. The poverty standard will likely change, and that means who Poor in China today may be very different. For instance, at a higher poverty standard of $5 a day, one third of the poor in China live in urban areas. They may require different support mechanisms. So the story of poverty reduction in China is not finished. The efforts continue, but today is a good time to look back at what was achieved, to learn the right lessons, and to look forward on what is next. Thanks a lot for listening.

showAllTranscripts

no

duration

PT3M14S

scene7File

worldbank/Martin EPD Oct 2021

scene7Domain

scene7FileAvs

worldbank/Martin EPD Oct 2021-AVS

title

Martin EPD Oct 2021

description

Martin EPD Oct 2021

showTimestampAndTranscript

yes