The root causes of poverty and its elimination in China and developing countries

Anonymous author excerpted from Unknown Published on 2007-1-22 16:55:43 Background

Poverty is The problem of globalization is also the biggest obstacle that China, the largest developing country, encounters in its economic development; it affects the sustainable development in the process of globalization and hinders the realization of the ultimate goal of China's reform and opening up. It is the most important issue for mankind today. **The enemy of unity. Therefore, it is the only issue that the World Bank has devoted twice as a special topic in its 20-year development report, and has been mentioned many times in reports in other years.

1. The current situation of poverty in developing countries

1. Definition of poverty

Poverty can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense: poverty in the narrow sense is poverty in the economic sense. , refers to a situation where it is difficult to maintain life at the lowest economic level. In addition to poverty in the economic sense, poverty in a broad sense also includes social, development, cultural, environmental and other factors, such as population life span, nutrition, education, medical care, living environment and unemployment. With the development of science and technology, the improvement of the overall economic level of human society and the quality of life, the concept of poverty has gradually transitioned from a purely economic level in a narrow sense to a multi-faceted level that affects the quality of life in a broad sense. The definition of the concept of poverty itself is a dynamic process, which is clearly reflected in the definitions of the World Bank and international authoritative organizations.

The World Bank's "World Development Report 1980" pointed out: "When some people, some families or some groups do not have enough resources to obtain the diet that they generally enjoy in that society, , living conditions, comfort and opportunities to participate in certain activities, is to be in a state of poverty. "Obviously, the emphasis here is on material conditions based on consumption levels. The 1980 Report set the poverty line as an annual per capita income of US$75. The "1990 World Development Report" pointed out: "Poverty means the lack of ability to achieve living standards", and believed that when considering poverty, we must also consider population life span, nutritional status, health status, children's enrollment rate, medical care, literacy, education Opportunities and other social welfare cultural content. The "1990 Report" identified two international poverty lines: one is "absolute poverty" when the per capita annual income is less than 275 US dollars; the second is "poverty" when the per capita annual income is 370 US dollars (calculated at constant purchasing power parity prices in 1985). In 1997, the United Nations Development Program proposed the concept of "humanistic poverty" from the perspective of "humanistic development". In addition to factors including per capita income, it also includes various indicators such as life expectancy, health, education and social environment. This method of defining "humanistic poverty" can more comprehensively reflect a country's economic level and living conditions, as well as the degree of development of human civilization. Measured by this standard, poverty is the overall manifestation of economic, social, and cultural backwardness.

2. The current situation of poverty in developing countries

From 1991 to 1996, the economic growth rate of developing countries reached 9%, but the number of poor people did not decrease due to economic growth. On the contrary, there were increased. According to a United Nations survey, the number of poor people in developing countries has increased from 1 billion in 1990 to 1.3 billion currently. These people live in one of the poorest countries in the world, with an income of less than $1 per person per day. In developing 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 regions of Africa, the incidence of poverty (the share of people living below the poverty line in the total population) is rising. Currently, about half of Africa's 630 million people are struggling with hunger. (Note: "Poverty situation in Africa worsens", "People's Daily", page 7, February 7, 1996.) According to a report by the United Nations Development Program in October 1997, 70% of the world's poor are women. Children from poor families fare even worse. In the mid-1980s, 100 million children were living on the streets in developing countries.

The fact that economic growth in developing countries has not alleviated poverty is a warning to people: growth does not equal development. Economic growth is an important factor in alleviating poverty, but it is not the most critical factor.

2. Root causes and solutions to poverty in developing countries

1. Root causes of poverty in developing countries

Poverty in developing countries is caused by many factors* **The result of the same effects are internal factors such as historical constraints, backward economic foundation, lack of natural resources, deterioration of the ecological environment, excessive population growth, single economic structure, improper development strategy, and economic policy errors. There are also internal factors such as the unreasonable international economic order and There are external factors such as heavy debt burden, deteriorating terms of trade, and unfavorable trade status, but the most fundamental reason is low education level. Because poverty can be eliminated only when the poor have the opportunity to make a living; and if they do not have the ability to utilize and seize the opportunities to make a living, or the ability to respond to opportunities, any opportunity will slip away. People with little or no education cannot acquire this ability.

Looking at different countries and social strata around the world, poor people are often concentrated in remote areas with backward economies, underdeveloped communications, poor transportation, poor education, low literacy rates, and backward concepts. In these areas, due to the lack of basic social services and human capital investment, the poor are unable to take advantage of livelihood opportunities and cannot obtain enough food. Their children need to go out to earn money earlier to subsidize their families and cannot go to school; It is more necessary to have more children and rely on a large family organization to maintain the livelihood of members. The per capita living standard is lower and poverty is further exacerbated. The source of this vicious circle lies in the serious lack of investment in human capital that can fundamentally change the living conditions of the labor force—education. Low education levels are the root cause of poverty in developing countries.

2. The key to solving the poverty problem in developing countries

Poverty alleviation is the fundamental purpose of economic development. The "1980 Report" analyzed the relationship between poverty, economic growth and human development, pointing 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 details several major factors of human development: education, health, nutrition and fertility, how each affects the income of the poor and the relationship between them. The "1990 Report" further provided an effective poverty alleviation strategy composed of two aspects: "opportunity" and "ability": "First, implement a labor-intensive development model and its supporting policies to promote the most abundant asset of the poor, namely labor force. needs and provide livelihood opportunities for the poor; the second is to provide basic social services to the poor extensively, increase the human capital of the labor force, and improve the poor's ability to take advantage of livelihood opportunities. The former solves the problem of excessive labor force, while the latter solves the problem. To solve the problem of low quality of labor force, we can improve the income of workers and solve the problem of poverty. "We must unify policies that promote economic growth and enable the poor to benefit from economic growth." The ways are: (1) Giving asset ownership to the poor. One is to redistribute existing assets to the poor, such as land reform. The second is to distribute incremental capital in favor of the poor. In particular, public investment in the human resources of the poor through primary education and medical care has become an important policy means to increase the assets of the poor. (2) Increase the benefits of assets owned by the poor. That is, alleviating poverty by increasing agricultural productivity and agricultural returns. Unskilled labor is the most important asset of the poor. A substantial increase in the income of unskilled labor can make income distribution beneficial to the poor. Also of particular importance is improving the return on assets of the poor through increased productivity, which includes investments in human capital and infrastructure. Such investments can combine promoting growth with alleviating poverty. Research shows that 1/4 of the increase in agricultural compensation and 3/4 of non-agricultural compensation can be attributed to good education. (3) Make moderate transfers to the poor. Regardless of the above-mentioned methods of alleviating poverty, they all rely on the poor's own ability to accept and master them, and on their utilization of new methods and opportunities. In the final analysis, they rely on human resource development to improve this ability.

People are also the source of growth. A well-educated and healthy worker is more likely to obtain good job opportunities and contribute more to economic growth. While entrepreneurship and management skills are important in both the public and private sectors, even more important are the skills, knowledge and work attitudes of the vast majority of ordinary workers. Therefore, a balance must be maintained between achieving short-term economic growth and investing in people's long-term development and improved quality of life. To obtain the source of growth and achieve and maintain the balance between economic growth and sustainable development, we must pay attention to human resource development. "Human resources development undoubtedly plays an important role in the fight against poverty." (Note: World Bank's 1980 "World Development Report".)

Education is a key factor in human resource development and a long-term the basis of development. Labor capacity is the only valuable capital on which all healthy poor people depend. Therefore, using education to improve the productivity of the labor force and the poor's ability to seize opportunities is the most effective way to fight poverty. It enables the poor to seize the opportunities of economic growth, improves the human capital stock of the poor, thereby improving their work efficiency tomorrow, and providing inexhaustible resources for long-term economic development. Therefore, it is necessary for the government to make adjustments to the current expenditure pattern, including the quantity and quality of services. The most important and fundamental social sector measures aimed at improving the living conditions of the poor are the expansion and improvement of primary education and basic health 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, continue to expand the number of rural clinics and primary schools, and improve the quality of services. When summarizing the experience of poverty alleviation, the "1990 Report" stated: "Any country trying to compete in the world economy must adopt a comprehensive education policy, including spending on higher education, science and technology, and professional training." (Note : World Bank 1990 World Development Report) “The countries that have been most successful in combating poverty have pursued a growth model that uses labor efficiently and invests in the human resources of the poor. A balanced approach is to alleviate poverty. The basic strategy of poverty, both are indispensable.

On the one hand, it is to improve the opportunities for the poor to use their most abundant asset - labor force; on the other hand, it is to improve their immediate welfare and improve their ability to take advantage of emerging opportunities. The combination of the two can improve the living standards of the vast majority of the world's poor. "(Note: The World Bank's 1990 "World Development Report.") The two reports reached the same conclusion: investment in human capital, especially education, can help eradicate the root causes of poverty.

3. China’s Poverty Problem

1. The Current Situation of China’s Poverty Problem

Like other developing countries, poverty is also an obstacle to China’s economic development. Since the implementation of the poverty alleviation plan, China’s The number of poor people has dropped sharply, but the anti-poverty task is still very arduous. On the one hand, it is more difficult for the remaining poor people to get out of poverty, and the problem of people initially lifted out of poverty is becoming more and more serious. On the other hand, with the deepening of the reform of state-owned enterprises, new urban poor people have emerged. .

(1) Rural poverty situation: Adjusted based on the 1985 poverty alleviation standard for China’s rural poor, the annual per capita net income was 200 yuan, which was equivalent to 635 yuan in 1999. At the end of the year, the number of poor people in China's rural areas was 34 million. If estimated according to internationally accepted standards, the number of poor people in my country's rural areas was far more than tens of millions, but 106 million (at the end of 1998) (Note: Yang Jun: "China's Anti-Poverty Strategy." The confusion faced and the adjustment ideas”, "Gansu Theoretical Journal" Issue 1, 2001.) According to the report of the State Council Poverty Alleviation Office, if those people who have already solved the problem of food and clothing but are very likely to return to poverty are included, China's current rural poverty The population may exceed 10% of the total rural population. Obviously, the poverty standard in my country's rural areas is based on the minimum level of maintaining basic survival. In addition to material poverty, areas where my country's poor population is concentrated have poor social security and medical conditions. Poor quality; poverty has caused some children to suffer from nutritional deficiencies and poor health. Many school-age children, especially girls, are out of school and illiterate; information is blocked and concepts are backward.

(2) Newly added poor people in cities: With the development of the market economy and the deepening of the reform of state-owned enterprises, the impact of new poverty-causing factors such as unemployment, bankruptcy, and income disparity spontaneously induced by the market mechanism has increased rapidly. A large number of laid-off and long-term unemployed people, low-income retirees, etc. , constituting the new urban poor population. In 1996, the number of poor households in my country's cities was 3.06 million, with a poor population of 11.76 million. The annual per capita living cost income of a household was 1,321 yuan, which was lower than the per capita living cost income of 1,671 yuan that was the urban poverty line defined that year. 20% lower. (Note: China Business Times, October 10, 1997.) In recent years, as the problem of layoffs and unemployment has become increasingly serious, my country's urban poverty problem has further worsened (see Table 1). >

Attached figure {F102f43.BMP}

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

(1) Comprehensive number of unemployed people = laid-off people + unemployed people

(2) Comprehensive unemployment rate = Comprehensive number of unemployed people/total labor force

According to estimates from the Ministry of Labor, the total number of laid-off workers in 2000 was 21 million. According to the new requirements, after 2000, laid-off workers will directly enter the workforce. Within the scope of unemployment, no new reemployment service centers will be established. About 50% of these people cannot re-employ after their unemployment benefits run out, and they will fall into poverty.

The addition of urban poor people has made the structure of China’s poor population more complex and worsened China’s poverty problem.

(3) China's "humanistic 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 reflected in living conditions, education level, medical and health conditions, etc. on environmental quality. If measured by humanistic development indicators, China's "humanistic poverty" situation is even more serious. In the United Nations Development Program's "1997 Human Development Report" ranking of 175 countries and regions, China ranked 108 times. The new indicators of the United Nations humanities ranking include life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, comprehensive primary, secondary and tertiary enrollment rate, and per capita GDP. This humanistic development index can better reflect the progress of human civilization and provide a deeper understanding of "poverty". This sorting allows us to see that the gap between us and other countries is not only in the level of economic development, but more importantly in the humanistic indicators that reflect the comprehensive level, and the gap in the latter is more difficult to bridge than the former. In a sense, it is these latter indicators that determine a country's long-term development (by no means just growth) potential and reflect the true level and comprehensive strength of a nation. These humanistic development indicators point out the direction for my country's poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation work.

2. The key to poverty alleviation in China

Judging from the distribution of poverty in China, both rural poor families and urban poor are concentrated among people with relatively low educational levels. . In rural areas, due to lack of culture, they are unable to master the knowledge of scientific farming. Even if they have land, they cannot get the harvest they deserve, let alone resist the attacks of natural disasters. Without the ability to take advantage of livelihood opportunities, without mastering survival skills, and unable to see or seize opportunities to change their lives, the foundation for poverty alleviation is fragile.

Even those who have been lifted out of poverty will soon fall back into poverty when the material foundation that initially lifted them out of poverty changes or something unexpected happens. According to statistics, about 10% of the people who have just escaped from poverty in my country return to poverty every year. In cities, it is difficult for laid-off workers with relatively low education to be qualified for new positions with higher technical requirements and find lucrative careers. It can be seen that the key to getting rid of poverty is to increase investment in human capital. While providing livelihood opportunities for the poor, it is more focused on improving their ability to take advantage of livelihood opportunities. “Investment in improving population quality can significantly improve the economic future and welfare of the poor.” (Note: Schultz: "Lectures by 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 consolidating and Improve the survival security and development capabilities of poor individuals, increase the opportunities for poor people to receive education, thereby improving their means and ability to obtain survival and development resources, and support poverty alleviation at the root and ideas. The government should effectively combine poverty alleviation and intellectual aid, and increase cultural poverty alleviation while providing material poverty alleviation; while providing necessary funds and relief to enable the poor to reach the minimum living standard, it should also increase efforts to improve the cultural quality and cultural quality of the poor. Knowledge-based education investment; while alleviating poverty through material investment, it also emphasizes the fundamental approach of “helping people” and “treating the root cause”.

Like other developing countries, China also faces the biggest obstacle in its poverty alleviation work: insufficient funds. "Faced with many urgent problems and huge development plans, governments often need to make laborious trade-offs between human development and other projects." Developing countries should strive to improve the capital operating efficiency of public enterprises without affecting safety. Under the circumstances, we should reduce military expenditures and reduce investment in some projects that require high investment but are not too urgent, so that more funds can be used for projects such as primary education and basic health care. "(Note: World Bank's 1990 "World Development Report.")

Adam Smith said: "The development of a country mainly depends on the skills, proficiency and judgment of its workers. of high or low. "This sentence is still a wise saying today. The most precious wealth of a country is its people. The comprehensive development of human resources is both the source and the ultimate goal of economic development. However, poverty will not disappear overnight, human resources The full development of human resources cannot be achieved overnight. A country's current health and education level may very well reflect its efforts in human development 10 or even 20 years ago (Note: Cheng Shulan et al., "World Bank"). Development Report 20 Years Review" China Economic Press, July 1999)

"Guanzi Xiuquan" said: "A one-year plan is better than a tree valley; a ten-year plan is better than trees; A lifelong plan is to cultivate people. A tree that harvests one harvest is a tree; a tree that harvests a hundred harvests is a human being. "China's human development and anti-poverty fight have a long way to go and require unremitting efforts from the whole society, among which the government's role is particularly important.

Source: Anhui Xuezi Network