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Does the Dibao Program Improve Citizens’ Life Satisfaction in China? Perceptions of Pathways of Poverty Attribution and Income Inequality

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  • Qiu Cheng

    (Sun Yat-Sen University)

  • Kinglun Ngok

    (School of Government, Sun Yat-Sen University)

Abstract

How do anti-poverty welfare programs associate with the subjective well-being of the non-poor and the general public? Using data from the Chinese National Survey of Public Welfare Attitudes in 2018 and 2020, this article evaluates the association between perceptions of poverty attribution and income inequality and citizens’ life satisfaction. It also explores how an individual’s attitudes towards the effectiveness and efficiency of China’s Dibao program might mediate these relationships. People who perceived the causes of poverty and income inequality of outcomes in individualistic terms reported greater life satisfaction; those who perceived the causes of poverty as the product of structural factors or bad luck were less satisfied. Additionally, path analysis results demonstrate that individual attitudes towards the Dibao program negatively affect citizens’ life satisfaction. And it also confirmed the mediating role of the Dibao program, which could positively reduce the effects of perceptions of poverty attribution and income inequality on citizens’ life satisfaction. Hence, this study suggests that the government should not only consider welfare beneficiaries but also the life quality of the general public, and establish a unified social welfare system that reinforces citizens’ subjective well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Qiu Cheng & Kinglun Ngok, 2023. "Does the Dibao Program Improve Citizens’ Life Satisfaction in China? Perceptions of Pathways of Poverty Attribution and Income Inequality," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(2), pages 975-995, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:18:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s11482-022-10128-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11482-022-10128-x
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