Urban–rural Integration and Poverty: Different Roles of Urban–rural Integration in Reducing Rural and Urban Poverty in China

Poverty is a common problem faced by all countries. Breaking the restrictions on urban–rural development imposed by the dual urban–rural system, China has greatly succeeded in eradicating absolute poverty, which has important reference significance for other developing countries to reduce poverty. However, few studies have systematically and empirically tested the heterogeneous impact of urban–rural integration (URI) on urban and rural poverty reduction. Using China’s provincial panel data and the spatial econometric model, this study explores the relationship between URI and poverty reduction and tests its spatial spillover effects. The results show that URI and rural poverty present an inverted U-shaped relationship, which first aggravates and subsequently alleviates rural poverty. That has spatial overflow. For urban poverty, URI first reduces and then increases urban poverty in the province. In contrast, URI and urban poverty have an inverted U-shaped relationship in the surrounding province. By calculating the inflection point value, this study finds that when the URI level is between 0.300 and 0.480, URI can contribute to urban and rural poverty reduction in the local and surrounding areas. In the future, the government should dynamically monitor changes in urban and rural poverty while improving the development of URI.