Can Land Transfer Alleviate the Poverty of the Elderly? Evidence from Rural China

Safeguarding the Right to Health of the Elderly in Rural China: A Legal Analysis

Older people in rural China enjoy the right to health under Chinese law. However, the problems of economic difficulties, the unbalanced allocation of medical resources between urban and rural areas and the weakening of the traditional function of the family as a provider of old-age care in reality make the elderly in rural areas face a higher risk of health problems. The law is an important tool to mitigate these problems. Although China has made great efforts to legally guarantee the right to health of the rural elderly, it has not yet fully implemented the requirements of Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 14 of the Madrid Political Declaration and International Plan of Action on Ageing. China needs to further improve the relevant legislation to provide adequate legal support for the exercise of the right to health of the elderly in rural areas.

Heterogeneity and threshold in the effect of agricultural machinery on farmers' relative poverty

Machinery is commonly used in the modernization of agricultural industries and is a pivotal way to eliminate poverty among farmers. However, there are still disputes regarding the effects of agricultural machinery on farmers' relative poverty. Neither the heterogeneity nor the thresholds in agricultural machinery-led poverty reduction efforts have been discussed in depth. To address those gaps, this study considers farmers' livelihood factors and resource (in)divisibility to investigate how agricultural machinery affects farmers' relative poverty as well as the heterogeneity of and thresholds in that influence. This study collected data from 1118 Chinese farming households. 2SLS-IVTobit regression results show that a 1% increase in the overall level of agricultural machinery leads to a 3.3% increase in farmers' income and a 0.523% decrease in their relative poverty. Furthermore, the three pathways of cost-saving, production efficiency, and labor allocation efficiency are identified as explaining 25.4%, 21.9%, and 21.3% of relative poverty reduction, respectively. The heterogeneity of these effects across different farming stages (i.e., plowing, sowing, and harvesting) is also examined, and the results show that plowing machinery has the largest effect. Then, a threshold analysis is conducted, which shows that farmers are influenced more when the scale of their farms surpasses the threshold of 1.12 hm2. Theoretically, this study establishes an integrated model that depicts how agricultural machinery affects farmers' relative poverty through production (in)divisibility. Practically, this study recommends additional investment in agricultural machinery (especially plowing machinery), farmland integration, and taking targeted measures to facilitate resource divisibility.

Reducing the carbon emission from agricultural production in China: do land transfer and urbanization matter?

Urbanization and land transfer have triggered a profound reform of the Chinese agricultural sector since reform and opening, leading to a continuous rise in agricultural carbon emissions. However, the impact of urbanization and land transfer on agricultural carbon emissions is not widely understood. Therefore, based on the panel data covering 30 provinces (cities) in China from 2005 to 2019, we adopted a panel autoregressive distributed lag model and a vector autoregressive model to empirically explore the causal relationship between land transfer, urbanization, and agricultural carbon emissions. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Land transfer can significantly reduce carbon emissions from agricultural production in the long run, while urbanization has a positive effect on agricultural carbon emissions. (2) In the short run, land transfer has a significant positive impact on agricultural carbon emissions, and urbanization also has a positive impact on the carbon emissions of agricultural production, but in insignificant ways. (3) There is two-way causality between land transfer and agricultural carbon emission, and between urbanization and land transfer is the same, but urbanization is the one-way Granger cause of agricultural carbon emissions. Finally, some suggestions are provided for low-carbon agriculture development: the government should encourage the transfer of land management rights and guide high-quality resources to gather in green agriculture.

Measurement and identification of relative poverty level of pastoral areas: an analysis based on spatial layout

Pastoral areas are the key difficulty in China's pursuit of common prosperity and a key region for China to build the northern ecological safety barrier and to realize the Two Centenary Goals. It is of great significance to scientifically evaluate the quality of rural life (QRL), measure the relative poverty level (RPL), and identify the relatively poor areas, making it possible to dock poverty elimination with rural revitalization. Based on the socio-economic data of 18 pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia, this paper draws on spatial layout theory to evaluate QRL and measures RPL by the natural breakpoint method and then identifies the relatively poor areas in Inner Mongolia. The results show that (1) the QRLs of pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia were unbalanced and highly polarized. The mean score of QRLs was 0.2598. Eleven (61.11%) of the counties/banners had a QRL smaller than the mean score. On the spatial layout of QRLs, the western areas were stronger than the central areas. High QRL counties/banners are mainly concentrated in the western region. In the central region, the QRLs were very fragmented, falling onto all five levels. (2) The pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia differed significantly in RPL. The mean score of RPL stood at 0.3788. Nine counties/banners (50%) had an RPL greater than the mean. Contrary to the spatial layout features of QRLs, the central pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia had stronger RPLs than the eastern ones. High RPL counties/banners are mostly clustered in the central region. The spatial layout of RPLs is relatively reasonable in the central region: the RPLs decreased gradually from Dorbod Banner. (3) Nearly 45% of the pastoral areas in central and western Inner Mongolia face serious relative poverty and a high risk of returning to poverty. Eight counties/banners (45%) were identified as high composite relative poverty areas. From spatial layout, the composite relatively poor counties/banners clustered clearly, mainly in the western region. Finally, this paper establishes a warning mechanism against large-scale returning to poverty, aiming to lower composite RPL. The research results provide empirical reference and implementation path for consolidating the results of poverty eradication and facilitating rural revitalization.

Latent profile analysis of security among patients with COVID-19 infection in mobile cabin hospitals and its relationship with psychological capital

Aim

COVID-19 patients' security is related to their mental health. However, the classification of this group's sense of security is still unclear. The aim of our research is to clarify the subtypes of security of patients infected with COVID-19, explore the factors affecting profile membership, and examine the relationship between security and psychological capital for the purpose of providing a reference for improving patients' sense of security and mental health.

Methods

A total of 650 COVID-19 patients in a mobile cabin hospital were selected for a cross-sectional survey from April to May 2022. They completed online self-report questionnaires that included a demographic questionnaire, security scale, and psychological capital scale. Data analysis included latent profile analysis, variance analysis, the Chi-square test, multiple comparisons, multivariate logistical regression, and hierarchical regression analysis.

Results

Three latent profiles were identified-low security (Class 1), moderate security (Class 2), and high security (Class 3)-accounting for 12.00, 49.51, and 38.49% of the total surveyed patients, respectively. In terms of the score of security and its two dimensions, Class 3 was higher than Class 2, and Class 2 was higher than Class 1 (all P < 0.001). Patients with difficulty falling asleep, sleep quality as usual, and lower tenacity were more likely to be grouped into Class 1 rather than Class 3; Patients from families with a per capita monthly household income <3,000 and lower self-efficacy and hope were more likely to be grouped into Classes 1 and 2 than into Class 3. Psychological capital was an important predictor of security, which could independently explain 18.70% of the variation in the patients' security.

Conclusions

Security has different classification features among patients with COVID-19 infection in mobile cabin hospitals. The security of over half of the patients surveyed is at the lower or middle level, and psychological capital is an important predictor of the patients' security. Medical staff should actively pay attention to patients with low security and help them to improve their security level and psychological capital.

Effects of multiple cropping of farmland on the welfare level of farmers: Based on the perspective of poverty vulnerability

This paper aims to explore the impact of multiple cropping on farmers’ welfare level and provide the theoretical and empirical basis for solving relative poverty in rural areas in the future. The paper uses data from the field survey of 1,120 farmers in Hubei in 2018 and uses the Endogenous Transformation Regression Model (ESR) and generalized propensity score matching (GPSM) model to construct a counterfactual framework. The paper analyses the effect of multiple cropping on farmers’ relative poverty and examines its mechanism. The result shows that: Multiple cropping of farmland can reduce the relative poverty of farmers through the mechanism of yield improvement path and factor intensification path. Under the counterfactual hypothesis, the relative poverty of farmers would increase by 28.43% if the farmers who participated in the multiple cropping did not; and that the relative poverty of the farmers would decrease by 29.57% if the farmers who did not participate in the multiple cropping participated. From the perspective of multiple cropping, the poverty reduction effect of multiple cropping in paddy fields is higher than that of dry land. From the perspective of the degree of multiple cropping, the poverty reduction effects of paddy fields and dryland will experience an increasing return to scale as the multiple cropping index increases. When the household equivalent scale adjustment coefficient is not used to eliminate the impact of family population structure on the “family per capita comparable income,” the artificially high results estimated by the model cannot truly reflect the poverty-reducing effect of multi-cropping of farmland. This paper argues that the government can guide farmers to choose the suitable mode of multiple cropping to reduce farmers’ vulnerability to relative poverty.

Can Mobile Payment Increase Household Income and Mitigate the Lower Income Condition Caused by Health Risks? Evidence from Rural China

China has moved into a new stage of its fight against poverty, where the further raising of rural household income is of great importance. Health risk is one of the biggest obstacles to the poverty reduction progress. Therefore, how to cope with the negative effects of health risks has attracted the attention of scholars, especially in the background of the global outbreak of COVID-19. In this paper, we try to explore whether mobile payment, a new form of payment, can improve the income of rural households and mitigate the lower income condition caused by health risks in China. Using data from the 2017 China Household Finance Survey, we found: (1) mobile payment can substantially increase rural household income; (2) health risks will lower the income of rural residents, but mobile payment can lessen this negative effect. Mechanism analysis indicates that mobile payment is likely to ease liquidity constraints, increase social interaction, and stimulate entrepreneurship for rural households. We advised the government to promote mobile payment adoption in rural areas and enhance its design. Additionally, better medical resources should also be made available to rural households.

From Fragmentation to Intensification: Land Reform in China's "New Era"

Combining the current national conditions of China and the status quo of rural land, realizing the transformation of land from fragmentation to intensification is the only way for China to move towards agricultural modernization. We selected Feicheng City, Shandong Province, as the research area, conducted regression analysis on the data by means of questionnaires and key interviews, and identified the influencing factors that can affect and change farmers' willingness to transfer (WTT) their land and willingness to the duration (WTD) of land transfer. The study found that 82.54% of farmers are willing to transfer land, and the WTD is 9.34 years. Among them, five factors, including job stability, purchased houses in urban area, cultivated land roads, degree of policy understanding, and emotion for the land, can significantly affect the farmers' WTT. Six factors, namely, age, job stability, number of family members, purchased houses in urban area, non-agricultural income, emotion for the land, can significantly affect the farmers' WTD. Based on this, we propose the "MPEU theory" of farmers' land transfer. That is, by allowing farmers to change their minds, understand policies, increase the non-agricultural employment rate, and improve the level of urbanization, the farmers' WTT/WTD can be improved, and the level of land intensification can be improved. Finally, agricultural modernization, peasant citizenization, and rural urbanization will be realized.

Public Health Services, Health Human Capital, and Relative Poverty of Rural Families

With the successful completion of the battle against poverty, after 2020, the focus and difficulty of China's poverty governance will change from solving absolute poverty to alleviating relative poverty. Analyzing and studying the alleviation of relative poverty from the perspective of public health services is in line with the current needs of consolidating and expanding poverty alleviation in China, and it is also of great significance to building a long-term solution mechanism for relative poverty. In this study, basic panel data were constructed by using the data of five CFPS surveys in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 and matched with the macro data. The correlation between public health services and rural households' relative poverty was also analyzed by using logit regression analysis and the KHB mediation effect decomposition method. The results show that (1) public health services play a significant role in promoting the accumulation of health human capital, improving individual feasible ability, and alleviating the relative poverty of rural families; (2) the improvement of public health services is conducive to the alleviation of the relative poverty of rural families; (3) we should continue to increase investment in public health care in underdeveloped areas and strive to promote the balanced development of public health services, so as to further consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty eradication.

Differences and Influencing Factors of Relative Poverty of Urban and Rural Residents in China Based on the Survey of 31 Provinces and Cities

China achieved comprehensive poverty eradication under the current standards in 2020, but eliminating absolute poverty does not mean the end of poverty alleviation and reduction; relative poverty will exist for a long time and has become the subject of poverty study. In this paper, the social poverty line (SPL) index is utilized to establish the relative poverty standard, and CHFS2017 is used to compare the regional distribution of relative poverty in China. The results show that the relative poverty in rural areas is more serious than that in urban areas. The rural relative poverty rate in five provinces and cities including Beijing is over 60%, and the rural relative poverty rate in Qinghai is low. The urban relative poverty rate in many provinces and cities of the central and western regions is below 40%, and the relatively high relative poverty rate in the eastern region has drawn attention to the issue of the income distribution. Moreover, a logit model for binary is employed for the influencing factor analysis of the relative poverty of urban and rural residents. The results show that the education year has a negative effect on the relative poverty of urban and rural residents. Happiness has a positive effect on urban residents, government financial expenditure and financial support for agriculture have different effects on rural residents and urban residents. Therefore, we put forward aiming at relative poverty in the rural areas of the central and western regions to reduce financial pressure and increase the benefits of poverty reduction.

Do Livelihood Strategies Affect the Livelihood Resilience of Farm Households in Flooded Areas? Evidence From Hubei Province, China

Hubei Province, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, is a complex area of fragile ecological environment and traditional agricultural production in China. With the further intensification of the impact of global warming, flood disasters have brought a more severe threat to the sustainable development of farmers’ livelihoods. This paper therefore examines the livelihood resilience of farmers with different livelihood strategies in the region by constructing a livelihood resilience evaluation system based on three target levels: buffering capacity, Adaptation and restoration, and using a contribution model to identify the main contributing factors affecting the livelihood resilience of fa rmers. The following three conclusions were found: (1). The overall level of livelihood resilience of farmers in flood-affected areas in Hubei Province is not high, and the difference in livelihood resilience indices between farmers with different livelihood strategies is large; (2). Farming-led farmers and part-time balanced farmers can better adapt to external shocks brought about by floods; (3). The main contributing factors affecting the livelihood resilience of various types of farmers have Convergence.

Rural Household Differentiation and Poverty Vulnerability: An Empirical Analysis Based on the Field Survey in Hubei, China

Rural family differentiation is an important perspective to analyze farmers’ behavior and poverty. Based on the data of 1673 farm households from rural field survey in 2019 in Hubei Province of China, this paper examines the main influencing factors of farm household differentiation on farm household poverty vulnerability from the perspective of the sustainable livelihoods of farm households. On this basis, the contribution of each influencing factor to farm household poverty vulnerability is analysed using the regression decomposition method. The results of the study show that the variables of farm household differentiation have a significant impact on poverty vulnerability, and the net household income per capita, which reflect the vertical differentiation of farm households, and the proportion of non-farm labor, which reflects the horizontal differentiation of farm households. Both have a significant negative impact on the poverty vulnerability of farm households. The regression decomposition method shows that the proportion of non-farm labor force, which reflects the horizontal differentiation of farm households, has the highest contribution to the poverty vulnerability of farm households. Human capital, natural capital, social capital, and physical capital also influence the poverty vulnerability of farm households to a certain extent.

The Influence of Disease Status on Loneliness of the Elderly: Evidence from Rural China

At present, the dual pressure of rural labor outflow and population aging in China makes the problems of the rural elderly population increasingly prominent, and its health problem is particularly prominent. Based on the 2014 China elderly population health survey data (CLHLS), this paper finds that the physical health status of the rural elderly has a significant positive impact on their loneliness; that is, the rural elderly with poor health status are more likely to feel lonely. At the same time, the age of the elderly has a significant positive impact on their loneliness. On the contrary, gender, personality, family income and intergenerational support of the elderly have a negative impact on their loneliness. Chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes have no significant effect on the loneliness of the elderly in rural areas, but there is a “severe disease effect”; that is, when chronic diseases develop into serious diseases or acute serious diseases, it can negatively impact the elderly psychologically and produce or deepen their sense of loneliness. Based on the above conclusions, this paper further puts forward relevant policy suggestions from three aspects: constructing a disease prevention and control system for the rural elderly, improving the care and service system for the rural elderly, reshaping rural filial piety culture, and creating a good atmosphere of “respecting, loving and respecting parents” in rural areas.

Does Social Medical Insurance Achieve a Poverty Reduction Effect in China?

This paper aims to explore the impact of social medical insurance (SMI) on poverty reduction (PR) in China. Considering the time-varying characteristics of factors, this paper uses the bootstrap Granger full sample causality and subsample rolling window model to find the relationship between SMI and PR. The results highlight that in some periods, there is a bidirectional causal link between SMI and PR. Influenced by the medical insurance reform and medication measures. Social medical insurance does not have a positive impact on poverty reduction in some periods. These results are supported by the Utility Maximization Model of Insurance Consumption, which highlights that individuals make utility maximization choices when choosing insurance. The effect of medical insurance on poverty alleviation depends on whether an individual's investment in medical insurance can maximize its utility. If the proportion of social medical insurance reimbursement is too low, individuals will give up buying social medical insurance. Thus, the anti-poverty effect of social medical insurance is difficult to achieve. Therefore, authorities need to pay attention to specific contexts and social medical insurance policies and further improve the social medical insurance system to promote the realization of the anti-poverty of social medical insurance.