IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0313533.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ethnic disparities of poor households by a multilevel analysis of household and contextual effects: Evidence from a multi-ethnic county of China

Author

Listed:
  • Junfeng Tian
  • Binyan Wang
  • Li Ma
  • Yunyan Li
  • Shijun Wang

Abstract

Poverty in multi-ethnic regions has always been a concern due to its complex factors and persistent nature. Using a sample of 8,482 ethnic majority-headed households and 2,011 ethnic minority-headed households distributed in 200 villages of Wangqing County, China, this study uses hierarchical linear models to examine the factors of income at the household level, the ethnic disparities of the household-level effect, and the contextual effect on household-level outcomes. The findings suggest that, in comparison to the majority group, there exists a smaller income gap between male-headed and female-headed poor households within the minority group. Moreover, the positive impact of participating in off-farm work and receiving welfare payments on the income of poor households is significantly stronger within the minority group. These results not only highlight ethnic disparities in household-level effects but also underscore potential influences of ethnicity on the income dynamics of poor households. The contextual effect demonstrates that modifying the environment of poor households can either enhance or diminish some of the impacts resulting from factors at the household level, thereby facilitating the formulation of more effective targeting strategies at different levels. This study provides an important reference for understanding the ethnic differences of poor households and the mechanism of their income from a multilevel perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Junfeng Tian & Binyan Wang & Li Ma & Yunyan Li & Shijun Wang, 2024. "Ethnic disparities of poor households by a multilevel analysis of household and contextual effects: Evidence from a multi-ethnic county of China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(12), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0313533
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313533
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0313533
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0313533&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0313533?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fafchamps, Marcel & Shilpi, Forhad, 2008. "Subjective welfare, isolation, and relative consumption," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 43-60, April.
    2. Krishna, Anirudh, 2006. "Pathways out of and into poverty in 36 villages of Andhra Pradesh, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 271-288, February.
    3. Krishna, Anirudh, 2007. "For Reducing Poverty Faster: Target Reasons Before People," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 1947-1960, November.
    4. Akter, Sonia & Mallick, Bishawjit, 2013. "The poverty–vulnerability–resilience nexus: Evidence from Bangladesh," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 114-124.
    5. Carter, Michael R. & Little, Peter D. & Mogues, Tewodaj & Negatu, Workneh, 2007. "Poverty Traps and Natural Disasters in Ethiopia and Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 835-856, May.
    6. Kim, Rockli & Mohanty, Sanjay K. & Subramanian, S.V., 2016. "Multilevel Geographies of Poverty in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 349-359.
    7. Cunguara, Benedito & Darnhofer, Ika, 2011. "Assessing the impact of improved agricultural technologies on household income in rural Mozambique," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 378-390, June.
    8. Yuewen Jiang & Yanhui Wang & Wenping Qi & Benhe Cai & Chong Huang & Chenxia Liang, 2022. "Detecting Multilevel Poverty-Causing Factors of Farmer Households in Fugong County: A Hierarchical Spatial–Temporal Regressive Model," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-21, November.
    9. Kam, Suan-Pheng & Hossain, Mahabub & Bose, Manik Lal & Villano, Lorena S., 2005. "Spatial patterns of rural poverty and their relationship with welfare-influencing factors in Bangladesh," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(5-6), pages 551-567.
    10. Eun-Young Park & Su-Jung Nam, 2018. "Influential Factors of Poverty Dynamics among Korean Households that Include the Aged with Disability," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(2), pages 317-331, June.
    11. Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman, 2008. "Distance From Urban Agglomeration Economies And Rural Poverty," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 285-310, May.
    12. Michael Epprecht & Daniel Müller & Nicholas Minot, 2011. "How remote are Vietnam’s ethnic minorities? An analysis of spatial patterns of poverty and inequality," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(2), pages 349-368, April.
    13. Steven Were Omamo, 1998. "Transport Costs and Smallholder Cropping Choices: An Application to Siaya District, Kenya," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(1), pages 116-123.
    14. Hallegatte, Stephane & Fay, Marianne & Barbier, Edward B., 2018. "Poverty and climate change: introduction," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 217-233, June.
    15. Li Shi & Ding Sai, 2013. "An Empirical Analysis of Income Inequality between a Minority and the Majority in Urban China: The Case of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 40(3), pages 341-355, September.
    16. Zhongfa Zhou & Changli Zhu, 2022. "Relative Spatial Poverty Within Guizhou Province, A Multidimensional Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 151-170, May.
    17. Björn Gustafsson & Ding Sai, 2009. "Temporary And Persistent Poverty Among Ethnic Minorities And The Majority In Rural China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(s1), pages 588-606, July.
    18. Ngarava, Saul & Zhou, Leocadia & Ningi, Thulani & Chari, Martin M. & Mdiya, Lwandiso, 2022. "Gender and ethnic disparities in energy poverty: The case of South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lin, Boqiang & Okyere, Michael Adu, 2023. "Race and energy poverty: The moderating role of subsidies in South Africa," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    2. Teresa Janz & Gassmann,Franziska & de Ervin,Lyliana Gayoso, 2024. "Weathering Shocks : Unraveling the Effects of Short-Term Weather Shocks on Poverty in Paraguay," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10970, The World Bank.
    3. Bolier Torres & Jhenny Cayambe & Susana Paz & Kelly Ayerve & Marco Heredia-R & Emma Torres & Marcelo Luna & Theofilos Toulkeridis & Antón García, 2022. "Livelihood Capitals, Income Inequality, and the Perception of Climate Change: A Case Study of Small-Scale Cattle Farmers in the Ecuadorian Andes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.
    4. Yuewen Jiang & Chong Huang & Duoduo Yin & Chenxia Liang & Yanhui Wang, 2020. "Constructing HLM to examine multi-level poverty-contributing factors of farmer households: Why and how?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, January.
    5. Stéphane Hallegatte & Adrien Vogt-Schilb & Julie Rozenberg & Mook Bangalore & Chloé Beaudet, 2020. "From Poverty to Disaster and Back: a Review of the Literature," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 223-247, April.
    6. Barbier, Edward B., 2012. "Natural capital, ecological scarcity and rural poverty," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6232, The World Bank.
    7. Mohamed Amara & Hatem Jemmali, 2018. "Household and Contextual Indicators of Poverty in Tunisia: A Multilevel Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 113-138, May.
    8. Abdoul G. Sam & Babatunde O. Abidoye & Sihle Mashaba, 2021. "Climate change and household welfare in sub-Saharan Africa: empirical evidence from Swaziland," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(2), pages 439-455, April.
    9. Rishi Kumar, 2022. "Household poverty dynamics in tribal Madhya Pradesh, India: A case study of 54 villages," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(2), pages 184-203, June.
    10. Arna Nishita Nithila & Paromita Shome & Ishrat Islam, 2022. "Waterlogging induced loss and damage assessment of urban households in the monsoon period: a case study of Dhaka, Bangladesh," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 110(3), pages 1565-1597, February.
    11. Pablo Ponce & Nathalie Aguirre-Padilla & Cristiana Oliveira & José Álvarez-García & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama, 2020. "The Spatial Externalities of Tourism Activities in Poverty Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-17, July.
    12. Hai‐Anh H. Dang & Stephane Hallegatte & Trong‐Anh Trinh, 2024. "Does global warming worsen poverty and inequality? An updated review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1873-1905, December.
    13. Yadira Méndez-Lemus & Antonio Vieyra, 2014. "Tracing Processes in Poverty Dynamics: A Tale of Peri-urban Small-scale Farmers in Mexico City," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(10), pages 2009-2035, August.
    14. Hoang & Laure Pasquier-Doumer & Camille Saint-Macary, 2018. "Ethnicity and risk sharing network formation: Evidence from rural Viet Nam," Working Papers DT/2018/15, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    15. Dieu Ne Dort Talla Fokam & Benjamin Fomba Kamga, 2023. "Ethnic diversity and poverty: the role of institutional quality," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 70(1), pages 27-61, March.
    16. Isaure Delaporte & Mathilde Maurel, 2018. "Adaptation to climate change in Bangladesh," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 49-62, January.
    17. Paudel, Jayash, 2021. "Why Are People Energy Poor? Evidence From Ethnic Fractionalization," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    18. Elena Paglialunga & Andrea Coveri & Antonello Zanfei, 2020. "Climate change and inequality in a global context. Exploring climate induced disparities and the reaction of economic systems," Working Papers 2003, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2020.
    19. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2017. "Ethnic Diversity and Poverty," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 285-302.
    20. Caviglia-Harris, Jill & Biggs, Trent & Ferreira, Elvino & Harris, Daniel W. & Mullan, Katrina & Sills, Erin O., 2021. "The color of water: The contributions of green and blue water to agricultural productivity in the Western Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0313533. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.