Abstract
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.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Alkire, S., Apablaza, M., Chakravarty, S., Yalonetzky, G.: Measuring chronic multidimensional poverty: A counting approach. Paper presented at the IARIW-IBGE Conference on Income, pp 11–14. Wealth and Well-Being in Latin America, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2013)
Alkire, S., Foster, J.: Counting and multidimensional poverty measure. J. Publ. Econ. 95(7–8), 476–487 (2011a)
Alkire, S., Foster, J.: Understandings and misunderstandings of multidimensional poverty measurement. J. Econ. Inequal. 9, 289–314 (2011b)
Alkire, S., Santos, M.E.: Acute multidimensional poverty: a new index for developing countries. OPHI working paper series, pp. 38 (2011)
Atkinson, A.: Multidimensional deprivation. Contrasting social welfare and counting approaches. J. Econ. Inequal. 1, 51–65 (2003)
Baulch, B., Hoddinott, J.: Economic mobility and poverty dynamics in developing countries. J. Dev. Stud. 36(5), 1–24 (2000)
Bliss, C.J., Stern, N.H.: Productivity, wages and nutrition: Theory and observations. J. Dev. Econ. 5, 331–398 (1978)
Bossert, W., Chakravarty, S., D’Ambrosio, C.: Poverty and time. J. Econ. Inequal. 10(9), 145–162 (2012)
Bourguignon, F., Chakravarty, S.: The measurement of multidimensional poverty. J. Econ. Inequal. 1, 25–49 (2003)
Behrman, J. R., Foster, A. D., Rosenzweig, M. R. The dynamics of agricultural production and the calorie-income relationship: Evidence from Pakistan. Journal of Econometrics 77(1), 187–207 (1997)
Calvo, C., Dercon, S.: Chronic poverty and all that: The measurement of poverty over time. In: Addison, T., Hulme, D., Kanbur, R. (eds.) Poverty Dynamics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, pp 29–58. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2009)
Chamberlain, G.: Panel data. In: Griliches, Z., Intrilligator, M. D. (eds.) Handbook of Econometrics 2, pp 1248–1318. Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam (1984)
Christiaensen, L., Demery, L., Kuhl, J.: The (evolving) role of agriculture in poverty reduction – an empirical perspective. J. Dev. Econ. 96(9), 239–254 (2011)
Christiaensen, L., Pan, L., Wang, S.: Pathways out of poverty in lagging regions: Evidence from rural western China. Agric. Econ. 44(1), 25–44 (2013)
D’Ambrosio, C.: The indicators of intertemporal material deprivation: A proposal and an application to EU countries. ImPRovE Discussion Paper No. 13/08. Antwerp (2013)
Dasgupta, P., Ray, D.: Inequality as a determinant of malnutrition and unemployment: Theory. Econ. J. 96(384), 1011–1034 (1986)
Dasgupta, P., Ray, D.: Inequality as a determinant of malnutrition and unemployment: Policy. Econ. J. 97, 177–188 (1987)
De Brauw, A., Giles, J.: Migrant labor markets and the welfare of rural households in the developing world: Evidence from China. IZA Discussion Paper, No. 6765 (2012)
De Brauw, A., Rozelle, S.: Migration and household investment in rural China. China Econ. Rev. 19(9), 320–335 (2008)
De Janvry, A., Sadoulet, E.: Agricultural growth and poverty reduction: Additional evidence. World Bank Res. Obs. 25(1), 1–20 (2010)
Dercon, S., Hoddinott, J.: Health, shocks and poverty persistence. In: Dercon, S. (ed.) Insurance Against Poverty. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2005)
Dethier, J., Effenberger, A.: Agriculture and development: A brief review of the literature. Econ. Syst. 36(9), 175–205 (2012)
Du, S., Mroz, T. A., Zhai, F, Popkin, B. M. Rapid income growth adversely affects diet quality in China - particularly for the poor! Social Science & Medicine 59(7), 1505–1515 (2004)
Duclos, J., Araar, A., Giles, J.: Chronic and transient poverty: Measurement and estimation, with evidence from China. J. Dev. Econ. 91(9), 266–277 (2010)
Dutta, I., Roope, L., Zank, H.: On intertemporal poverty measures: The role of affluence and want. Soc. Choice Welf. 41(3), 741–762 (2013)
FAO: The state of food insecurity in the world: The multiple dimensions of food security. Rome, FAO (2013)
Foster, J.: A class of chronic poverty measures. In: Addison, T., Hulme, D., Kanbur, R (eds.) Poverty Dynamics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, pp 59–76. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2009)
Gaiha, R., Kaicker, N., Imai, K.S., Kulkarni, V.S., Thapa, G.: Dietary shift and diet quality in India: an analysis based on the 50th, 61st and 66th rounds of the NSS. In: Jha, R., Gaiha, R., Deolalikar, A. (eds.) Handbook on Food: Demand, Supply, Sustainability and Security, pp 177–203. Edward Elgar Publishing, Gloucestershire, UK (2014)
Gradín, C., Río, C.D., Cantó, O.: Measuring poverty accounting for time. Rev. Income Wealth 58(9), 330–354 (2012)
Heckman, J.: Sample selection bias as a specification error. Econometrica 47(1), 153–161 (1979)
Hoy, M., Zheng, B.: Measuring lifetime poverty. J. Econ. Theory 146(5), 2544–2562 (2011)
Imai, K., You, J.: Poverty dynamics of households in rural China. Oxford Bull. Econ. Stat. 76(5), 898–923 (2014)
Jalan, J., Ravallion, M.: Transient poverty in postreform rural China. J. Comp. Econ. 26(9), 338–357 (1998)
Jha, R., Gaiha, R., Sharma, A.: Calorie and micronutrient deprivation and poverty nutrition traps in rural India. World Dev. 37(4), 982–991 (2009)
Kleiman-Weiner, M., Luo, R., Zhang, L., Shi, Y., Martorell, R., Rozelle, S., Medina, A.: Multiple micronutrient supplementation reduces anemia anxiety in rural China’s elementary school children. J. Nutr. 143(4), 640–647 (2012)
Labar, K., Bresson, F.: A multidimensional analysis of poverty in China from 1991 to 2006. China Econ. Rev. 22(3), 646–668 (2011)
Leibenstein, H.: Economic backwardness of economic growth. Wiley, New York (1957)
Luo, R., Zhang, L., Liu, C., Zhao, Q., Shi, Y., Miller, G., Yu, E., Sharbono, B., Medina, A., Rozelle, S., Martorell, R.: Anaemia among students of rural China’s elementary schools: Prevalence and correlates in Ningxia and Qinghai’s poor counties. J. Health Popul. Nutr. 29(4), 471–485 (2011)
McCulloch, N., Calandrino, M.: Vulnerability and chronic poverty in rural Sichuan. World Dev. 31(2), 611–628 (2003)
Mendola, D., Busetta, A.: The importance of consecutive spells of poverty: A path-dependent index of longitudinal poverty. Rev. Income Wealth 58(9), 355–374 (2012)
Mendola, D., Busetta, A.: Chronic poverty in european mediterranean countries Advances in Theoretical and Applied Statistics, pp 339–350. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg (2013)
Miller, G., Luo, R., Zhang, L., Sylvia, S., Shi, Y., Foo, P., Zhao, Q., Martorell, R., Medina, A., Rozelle, S.: Effectiveness of provider incentives for anemia reduction in rural China: a cluster randomised trial. BMJ, 345 (e4809) doi:10.1136/bmj.e4809 (2012)
Montalvo, J., Ravallion, M.: The pattern of growth and poverty reduction in China. J. Comp. Econ. 38(1), 2–16 (2010)
NBS: Poverty monitoring report of rural china. department of household surveys national bureau of statistics of china. China Statistics Press, Beijing (2000)
Ogundari, K., Abdulai, A.: Examining the heterogeneity in calorie-income elasticities: A meta-analysis. Food Policy 40, 119–128 (2013)
Park, A., Wang, S.: China’s poverty statistics. China Econ. Rev. 12, 384–398 (2001)
Ravallion, M., S. Chen. Chinas (uneven) progress against poverty. Journal of Development Economics, 82(1): 1–42 (2007)
Ravallion, M.: Are there lessons for Africa from China’s success against poverty? World Dev. 37(9), 303–313 (2009)
Ravallion, M.: On multidimensional indices of poverty. J. Econ. Inequal. 9(9), 235–248 (2011)
Ray, R., Mishra, A.: Multi-dimensional deprivation in the awakening giants: A comparison of China and India on micro data. J. Asian Econ. 23(3), 454–465 (2012)
Roodman, D.: Estimating fully observed recursive mixed-process models with cmp. Stata J. 11(9), 159–206 (2011)
Roope, L., Peters, S.: Intertemporal poverty in Great Britain. Economics Discussion Paper Series 1327, University of Manchester (2013)
Sato, H.: Growth of villages in China, 1990-2002. Front. Econ. China 5(1), 135–149 (2010)
Shimokawa, S.: When does dietary knowledge matter to obesity and overweight prevention? Food Policy 38, 35–46 (2013)
Song, Y.: Poverty reduction in China: The contribution of popularizing primary education. China World Econ. 20(1), 105–122 (2012)
Strauss, J., Thomas, D.: Health, nutrition, and economic development. J. Econ. Lit. 36, 766–817 (1998)
Tsui, K.: Multidimensional poverty indices. Soc. Choice Welf. 19(1), 69–93 (2002)
Wan, G., Zhang, Y.: Chronic and transient poverty in rural China. Econ. Lett. 119(2), 284–286 (2013)
Wang, X., Weaver, N., You, J.: The social security function of agriculture in China. J. Int. Dev. 25(1), 1–10 (2013)
World Bank: From poor areas to poor people: China’s evolving poverty reduction agenda (2009)
You, J.: Risk, under-investment in agricultural assets and dynamic asset poverty in rural China. China Econ. Rev. 29, 27–45 (2014)
You, J.: Asset-based poverty transition and persistence in rural China. Agricultural Economics, forthcoming (2016)
You, J., Imai, K., Gaiha, R.: Declining nutrient intake in a growing China: Does household heterogeneity matter? World Dev. 77, 171–191 (2016)
Zhai, F.Y., Du, S.F., Wang, Z.H., Zhang, J.G., Du, W.W., Popkin, B.M.: Dynamics of the Chinese diet and the role of urbanicity, 1991–2011. Obes. Rev. 15(suppl. 1), 16–26 (2014)
Zhao, M., Konishi, Y., Glewwe, P.: Does information on health status lead to a healthier lifestyle? Evidence from China on the effect of hypertension diagnosis on food consumption. J. Health Econ. 32, 367–385 (2013)
Zheng, B.: Measuring chronic poverty: a gravitational approach Department of Economics. University of Colorado, Denver (2011)
Zhu, Y., Wu, Z., Wang, M., Du, Y., Cai, F.: Do migrants really save more? The impact of remittances on savings in rural China. J. Dev. Stud. 48(4), 654–672 (2012)
Zimmerman, F.J., Carter, M.R.: Asset smoothing, consumption smoothing and the reproduction of inequality under risk and subsistence constraints. J. Dev. Econ. 71 (9), 233–260 (2003)
Acknowledgments
The authors are extremely grateful to Stephan Klasen and Christophe Muller, for helpful comments on an earlier draft. The paper has also benefitted from helpful discussions with a number of participants at the International Conference “Poverty, Equity, and Growth in Developing and Transition Countries”, held jointly by the Courant Research Center and the Ibero-America Institute of Economic Research, at the University of Göttingen during 2–4 July 2014, and the Annual Conference of the Chinese Economic Association (Europe) held during 1–2 September 2014 at the University of Göthenburg. The usual caveats, of course, apply. Finally, we wish to gratefully acknowledge generous financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.: 71403282 and 71673283) and the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No.: 15ZDC026).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
You, J., Wang, S. & Roope, L. Intertemporal deprivation in rural china: income and nutrition. J Econ Inequal 16, 61–101 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-017-9352-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-017-9352-z