There are many definitions of developed countries, but the accepted standards are: higher per capita GDP (not total GDP) and social development level. According to the standards around 1995, a developed country can basically be defined as a per capita GDP of more than 8,000 US dollars (calculated at the nominal exchange rate) plus a certain level of social development. With the development of 10, the standard of $8,000 has fallen behind, and it should be raised to about 10000 in 2005.
According to this definition, in 10, eight countries joined the ranks of developed countries, namely: Cyprus, Bahamas, Slovenia, Israel, South Korea, Malta, Hungary and Czech Republic.
What is a developed country and what is a developing country can be seen from international division of labor and cooperation.
In the international division of labor, developed countries can get high-end and cutting-edge product markets, while developing countries can only do some low-end product markets. The final low-end consumer goods are often not made in developed countries, but only in developing countries. Developed countries mainly engage in leading industrialization, intensive research and modern information integration. However, mental workers in developed countries will inevitably demand more leisure time, study time and exquisite time; In developing countries, because local capitalists want workers to bear all the costs imposed on them by developed countries, local workers can only work overtime day and night.
So it comes to a conclusion that the ultimate goal of economic development in developed countries is to let their citizens get more rest time, while economic development in developing countries can only make workers pay more productive labor time, and the difference is forcibly robbed by developed countries from developing countries.
What is a developed country and what is a developing country can be seen from international division of labor and cooperation.
In the international division of labor, developed countries can get high-end and cutting-edge product markets, while developing countries can only do some low-end product markets. The final low-end consumer goods are often not made in developed countries, but only in developing countries. Developed countries mainly engage in leading industrialization, intensive research and modern information integration. However, mental workers in developed countries will inevitably demand more leisure time, study time and exquisite time; In developing countries, because local capitalists want workers to bear all the costs imposed on them by developed countries, local workers can only work overtime day and night.
So it comes to a conclusion that the ultimate goal of economic development in developed countries is to let their citizens get more rest time, while economic development in developing countries can only make workers pay more productive labor time, and the difference is forcibly robbed by developed countries from developing countries.
There is no essential difference, but the time of development is different, one is the present continuous tense and the other is the past tense.
The root causes of poverty in China and developing countries and its elimination
The author took an anonymous excerpt from the background of the unknown publication 2007-1-2216: 55: 43.
Poverty is a problem of globalization and the biggest obstacle to the economic development of China, the largest developing country. It affects the sustainable development in the process of globalization, and also hinders the realization of the ultimate goal of China's reform and opening up. Is the common enemy of mankind today. Therefore, it is the only issue that the World Bank has dealt with twice as a topic in its 20-year development report and mentioned many times in other years' reports.
I. Poverty in developing countries
1, the definition of poverty
Poverty can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense: poverty in the narrow sense is poverty in the economic sense, which refers to the situation that it is difficult to maintain life at the lowest economic level. Poverty in a broad sense includes not only poverty in the economic sense, but also social, development, cultural and environmental factors, such as life expectancy, nutrition, education, medical care, living environment and unemployment. With the development of science and technology and the improvement of the overall economic level and quality of life of human society, the concept of poverty has gradually changed from a narrow pure economic level to a broad multi-level impact on the quality of life. The definition of poverty itself is a dynamic process, which is clearly reflected in the definitions of the World Bank and international authoritative organizations.
The World Development Report 1980 of the World Bank points out: "When some people, some families or some groups do not have enough resources to get the food, living conditions, comfort and opportunities to participate in certain activities that they generally enjoy in that society, they are in poverty." Obviously, what is emphasized here is the material conditions based on the consumption level. 1980 defines the poverty line as an annual per capita income of $75. "World Development Report 1990" points out that "poverty means lack of ability to meet living standards", and that poverty should also consider the contents of social welfare culture, such as life expectancy, nutritional status, health status, children's enrollment rate, medical care, literacy rate, educational opportunities, etc. 1990 has identified two international poverty lines: one is "extreme poverty" with an annual per capita income of less than $275; Second, the per capita annual income of $370 (calculated at constant purchasing power parity 1985) is "poverty". 65438-0997 The United Nations Development Programme put forward the concept of "humanistic poverty" from the perspective of "humanistic development". It includes not only the factors of per capita income, but also various indicators such as life expectancy, health, education and social environment. This definition of "human poverty" can comprehensively reflect a country's economic level and living conditions, and reflect the degree of development of human civilization. According to this standard, poverty is the overall manifestation of economic, social and cultural backwardness.
2. Poverty in developing countries
199 1- 1996, the economic growth rate of developing countries has reached 9%, but the poor population has not decreased because of economic growth, but has increased. According to the survey of the United Nations, the number of poor people in developing countries has increased from190 to 65438+1300 million at present. These people live in the poorest countries in the world, and each person earns less than 1 USD per day. In developing China countries, 80 million people have no access to medical services, 840 million people are malnourished and 260 million people cannot go to school. In the poorest African region, the poverty rate (the proportion of people below the poverty line to the total population) is rising. At present, about half of Africa's 630 million people are struggling with hunger. (Note: The Poverty in Africa is Aggravated, People's Daily, 7th edition, 1996.2.7. 1997 According to a report of the United Nations Development Programme in June, 70% of the poor people in the world are women. Children from poor families are worse off. In the mid-1990s, there were more than 6,543.8 billion children living on the streets in developing countries.
The fact that economic growth in developing countries has not alleviated poverty warns people that growth is not equal to development, and economic growth is an important factor to alleviate poverty, but it is not the most critical factor.
Second, the root causes and solutions of poverty in developing countries
1, the root of poverty in developing countries
Poverty in developing countries is the result of many factors, including internal factors such as historical constraints, backward economic base, lack of natural resources, deterioration of ecological environment, excessive population growth, single economic structure, improper development strategy and economic policy mistakes, as well as external factors such as unreasonable international economic order, heavy debt burden, deteriorating terms of trade and unfavorable trade status, but the most fundamental reason is low education level. Because the poor can only eliminate poverty if they have the opportunity to make a living; And if you don't have the ability to make use of and grasp the opportunity to make a living, or the ability to cope with the opportunity, any opportunity will slip away from you. People with low education or no education cannot acquire this ability.
The poor people from different countries and social strata in the world are often concentrated in remote areas with backward economy, underdeveloped communication, poor transportation, backward education, low literacy rate and backward ideas. In these areas, because of the lack of basic social services and human capital investment, the poor people have no ability to earn a living and can't get enough food, so their children need to go out earlier to make money to support their families and can't go to school; They need to have more children, rely on a huge family organization to maintain the livelihood of their members, the per capita living standard is lower, and poverty is further aggravated. The source of this vicious circle lies in the serious shortage of human capital investment, which can fundamentally change the living conditions of the labor force. Low education level is the root of poverty in developing countries.
2. The key to solving the poverty problem in developing countries
Reducing poverty is the fundamental purpose of economic development. 1980 report analyzes the relationship among poverty, economic growth and human development, and points out that economic growth alone cannot effectively eliminate poverty, while human development plays an extremely important role in the process of eliminating poverty, especially absolute poverty. The report expounds several main factors of human development: education, health, nutrition and fertility, how they affect the income of the poor and their relationship. The Report 1990 further gives an effective poverty alleviation strategy consisting of "opportunity" and "ability": "First, implement the labor-intensive development model and its supporting policies to promote the demand for the most abundant asset of the poor, that is, the labor force, and provide the poor with opportunities to make a living; The second is to provide basic social services to the poor extensively, increase the human capital of the labor force, and improve the earning capacity of the poor. The former solves the problem of surplus labor force, while the latter solves the problem of low quality of labor force, thus increasing the income of workers and solving the problem of poverty. " It is necessary to unify the policies that promote economic growth with those that benefit the poor. The ways are: (1) giving the poor property ownership. One is to redistribute existing assets to the poor, such as land reform. Second, the distribution of incremental capital is beneficial to the poor. Public investment in human resources of the poor, especially through primary education and medical care, has become an important policy means to increase the assets of the poor. (2) Increase the income of assets owned by the poor. That is, to alleviate poverty by increasing agricultural productivity and income. Unskilled labor is the most important asset of the poor, and the income of unskilled labor is greatly improved, which can make the income distribution beneficial to the poor. In addition, it is particularly important to improve the asset income of the poor by increasing productivity, which includes investment in human capital and infrastructure. This kind of investment can combine promoting growth with reducing poverty. Studies show that 1/4 of the increase in agricultural returns and 3/4 of the increase in non-agricultural returns can be attributed to good education. (3) Appropriate transfer to the poor. Any of the above ways of helping the poor depends on the poor's acceptance and mastery, on their use of new ways and opportunities, and in the final analysis, on the development of human resources to improve this ability.
People are also the source of growth. A well-educated and healthy worker is more likely to get good job opportunities and make greater contributions to economic growth. Although entrepreneurship and management ability are important in both public and private sectors, what is more important is the skills, knowledge and work attitude of the vast majority of ordinary workers. Therefore, we must keep a balance between short-term economic growth and investment aimed at people's long-term development and improving quality of life. In order to obtain the source of growth and achieve and maintain the balance between economic growth and sustainable development, we must attach importance to the development of human resources. "There is no doubt that human development plays an important role in the struggle against poverty." (Note: World Bank 1980 World Development Report. )
Education is a key factor in the development of human resources, and it is also the foundation of long-term development. The ability to work is the only valuable capital for the survival of all healthy and poor people. Therefore, improving the productivity of the labor force and the ability of the poor to seize opportunities through education is the most effective way to eliminate poverty. He enables the poor to seize the opportunity of economic growth and improve the human capital stock of the poor, so as to improve their work efficiency tomorrow and obtain inexhaustible resources for long-term economic development. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to adjust the current expenditure pattern, including the quantity and quality of services. The most important and basic measure taken by the social sector to improve the living conditions of the poor is to expand and improve primary education and basic medical care. It is necessary for the government to increase public investment in rural areas where poor people are concentrated, make better use of existing resources, give local authorities more responsibilities, continuously expand the number of clinics and primary schools in rural areas, and improve the quality of services. The report 1990 summarizes the experience of helping the poor: "Any country that tries to compete in the world economy needs to adopt a comprehensive education policy, including spending on higher education, science and technology and professional training." (Note: World Bank 1990 World Development Report. "The most successful countries in the fight against poverty have promoted an effective growth model using labor and invested in the human resources of the poor. The policy of giving consideration to both is the basic strategy of poverty alleviation, and both are indispensable. On the one hand, it is to improve the opportunities for the poor to use their most abundant assets-labor; on the other hand, it is to improve their immediate welfare and their ability to take advantage of emerging opportunities. The combination of the two can improve the living standards of the vast majority of poor people in the world. " (Note: World Bank 1990 World Development Report. The same conclusion of these two reports is that investment in human capital, especially education, will help to eliminate the root causes of poverty.
Three. Poverty in China
1, poverty status in China.
Like other developing countries, poverty is an obstacle to China's economic development. Since the implementation of the poverty alleviation plan, the number of poor people in China has dropped sharply, but the task of anti-poverty is still quite arduous. On the one hand, it is more difficult for the remaining poor people to get rid of poverty, and the problem of the initial poor people returning to poverty is prominent; On the other hand, with the deepening of the reform of state-owned enterprises, a new urban poor population has emerged.
(1) rural poverty: based on the poverty alleviation standard of 200 yuan, the annual per capita net income of the rural poor in China, 1985 and 1999 are adjusted to 635 yuan. According to this standard, by the end of 1999, there were 34 million rural poor people in China. According to internationally accepted standards, the poverty population in rural areas of China is far more than tens of millions, but1060,000 (1998 end). (Noe: Yang Jun: Puzzlement and Adjustment of Anti-poverty Strategy in China, Gansu Academic Journal, 200 1, 1. According to the report of the State Council Poverty Alleviation Office, if those who have solved the problem of food and clothing but are easy to return to poverty are counted, the rural poor population in China may exceed 10% of the total rural population at present. Obviously, China's rural poverty standard is based on the minimum level of maintaining basic survival. In addition to material poverty, poor social security and medical conditions and poor quality of life in poverty-stricken areas of China; Poverty makes some children lack nutrition and poor health, and many school-age children, especially girls, are out of school and illiterate. Information is blocked and ideas are backward.
(2) New poverty-stricken population in cities: With the development of market economy and the deepening of the reform of state-owned enterprises, the influence of new poverty-causing factors such as unemployment, bankruptcy and income gap spontaneously induced by market mechanism has increased rapidly, and a large number of laid-off and long-term unemployed people, low-income retirees, etc. , which constitutes a new poverty-stricken population in cities and towns. 1996, there are 3.06 million urban poor households and 0/760,000 poor people in China. The annual per capita living income of families is 132 1 yuan, which is 20% lower than the per capita living income of urban poverty line families defined in that year. (Note: China Business Times1997 10/0/month10. In recent years, with the increasingly serious problems of laid-off and unemployment, urban poverty in China has further deteriorated (see table 1).
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Source: National Bureau of Statistics.
(1) Comprehensive unemployment = laid-off unemployment+unemployment.
(2) Comprehensive unemployment rate = comprehensive unemployed/total labor force
According to the estimation of the Ministry of Labor, the total number of laid-off workers in 2000 was 2 1 10,000. According to the new requirements, laid-off workers will directly enter the unemployment range after 2000, and no new re-employment service centers will be established. About 50% of these people can't find jobs again after the unemployment benefits are used up, and they will fall into poverty.
With the participation of the urban poor, the poverty population structure in China is more complicated, and the poverty problem in China is more serious.
(3) China's "human poverty": China's urban and rural poverty is not only reflected in the economic level of economic income and per capita living expenses, but also in the quality of living environment such as living conditions, education level and medical and health conditions. If measured by human development indicators, China's "human poverty" situation is more serious. In the ranking of 175 countries and regions in the United Nations Development Programme 1997 Human Development Report, China ranks 108. The new indicators of the United Nations humanities rankings include life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, comprehensive enrollment rate of primary, secondary and higher education, and per capita GDP. This humanistic development index can better reflect the progress of human civilization and have a deeper understanding of "poverty". This ranking shows us that the gap between us and other countries is not only in the level of economic development, but more importantly in the humanistic indicators reflecting the comprehensive level, and the gap between the latter is more difficult to make up than the former. In a sense, it is the latter indicator that determines a country's long-term development (definitely not just growth) potential, which reflects the true level and comprehensive strength of a nation. These human development indicators have pointed out the direction for poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation work in China.
2. The key to poverty alleviation in China.
Judging from the class distribution of the poor population in China, both rural poor families and urban poor people are concentrated in people with relatively low educational level. In rural areas, because there is no culture, it is impossible to master the knowledge of scientific farming. Even if there is land, it will not get the harvest it deserves, let alone resist natural disasters. Without the ability to make use of life opportunities and master survival skills, we can't see or grasp the opportunity to change our lives, and the foundation of poverty alleviation is very fragile. Even if they have been lifted out of poverty, they will soon fall back into poverty when the material basis of their initial lifting out of poverty changes or is slightly unexpected. According to statistics, about 10% of the population who just got rid of poverty returns to poverty every year in China. In cities, it is difficult for laid-off workers with relatively low education to be competent for new jobs with high technical requirements, and it is also difficult to find well-paid jobs. It can be seen that the key to getting rid of poverty is to increase investment in human capital, at the same time provide poor people with opportunities to make a living, and pay more attention to improving their ability to make use of opportunities to make a living. Investing in improving the quality of the population can significantly improve the economic prospects and welfare of the poor. (Note: Schultz: Collection of speeches of Nobel Prize winners in economics, China Social Sciences Press 1986. )
In view of this, the government should shift the focus of poverty alleviation work to consolidate and improve the survival guarantee and development ability of poor individuals, increase the opportunities for poor people to receive education, enhance their means and ability to obtain resources for survival and development, and help the poor people fundamentally and conceptually. The government should effectively combine poverty alleviation with intellectual support, and increase the intensity of cultural poverty alleviation while carrying out material poverty alleviation; While providing necessary funds and relief to enable the poor people to reach the minimum living standard, we should increase investment in education and improve the cultural quality and knowledge level of the poor people; While alleviating poverty with material input, we emphasize the fundamental ways of "helping others" and "curing the root cause".
Like other developing countries, China is facing the biggest obstacle of insufficient funds for poverty alleviation. "Faced with many pressing problems and huge development plans, the government often needs to weigh human development with other projects. Developing countries should strive to improve the capital operation efficiency of public enterprises, reduce military expenditure without affecting safety, reduce investment in some projects with high investment requirements and less urgency, and let more funds be used for primary education and basic medical care. "(Note: World Bank 1990 World Development Report. )
Adam Smith said: "The development of a country mainly depends on the skills, proficiency and judgment of its workers." This sentence is still a wise saying today. The most precious wealth of a country is its people. The all-round development of human resources is not only the source of economic development, but also the ultimate goal of economic development. However, poverty will not disappear overnight, nor can the full development of human resources be realized overnight. The current level of health and education in a country probably reflects the efforts made by 10 to human development even 20 years ago. (Note: edited by Cheng Shulan and others. Review of the World Bank Development Report in the past 20 years. China Economic Publishing House, July 1999. )
"Guanzi Xiuquan" said: "A year's plan is nothing more than a tree valley; The ten-year plan is nothing more than a tree; Lifelong planning is nothing more than cultivating people. The tree wins, and the wood also; A tree is a winner, and people are also. "China's human resources development and anti-poverty struggle have a long way to go, which requires the unremitting efforts of the whole society, and the role of the government is particularly important.