IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v83y2024ics1043951x23001670.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The income redistribution effect of social security in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Sui
  • Zhao, Xiaoman

Abstract

Based on the data collected by China Household Income Project (CHIP), this paper compares the redistribution effect of China's social security in 2013 and 2018, respectively. The results show that the overall redistribution effect of China's social security has been enhancing. First, social security transfer income has played a moderate role in narrowing income inequality, while social security contribution, especially the medical insurance contribution, has widened the income gap. Second, the redistribution effects of social security on rural residents and migrant workers have increased. Third, social security effectively offset the growing income gap due to market factors in eastern China but failed to realize it in central and western China. Fourth, the narrowing of the urban-rural-migrant gap and regional gap in social security has promoted the enhancement of the overall redistribution effect of social security. Fifth, compared with high-income countries, the redistribution effect of China's social security system operated on a much smaller scale. We conclude by putting forward some policy suggestions.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Sui & Zhao, Xiaoman, 2024. "The income redistribution effect of social security in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:83:y:2024:i:c:s1043951x23001670
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2023.102082
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X23001670
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2023.102082?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wang, Feng & Shen, Ke & Cai, Yong, 2019. "Expansion of public transfers in China: Who are the beneficiaries?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    2. Cai, Meng & Yue, Ximing, 2020. "The redistributive role of government social security transfers on inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen, 2022. "Is that really a Kuznets curve? Turning points for income inequality in China," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(4), pages 749-776, December.
    4. Kanbur, Ravi & Wang, Yue & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2021. "The great Chinese inequality turnaround," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 467-482.
    5. Nanak Kakwani & Xiaobing Wang & Ning Xue & Peng Zhan, 2022. "Growth and Common Prosperity in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(1), pages 28-57, January.
    6. Meng Cai & Jing Xu, 2022. "Evaluating the Redistributive Effect of Social Security Programs in China over the Past 30 Years," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(1), pages 58-81, January.
    7. John Knight, 2014. "Inequality in China: An Overview," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 1-19.
    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. Liu, Xueyue & Zuo, Sharon Xuejing, 2023. "From equality to polarization: Changes in urban China’s gender earnings gap from 1988 to 2016," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 303-337.
    2. Ravallion, Martin & Chen, Shaohua, 2022. "Fleshing out the olive? Observations on income polarization in China since 1981," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Thomas Piketty & Li Yang & Gabriel Zucman, 2019. "Capital Accumulation, Private Property, and Rising Inequality in China, 1978–2015," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(7), pages 2469-2496, July.
    4. Haiyan Lin & Markus Brueckner, 2024. "Inequality and growth in China," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 539-585, February.
    5. Li Yang, 2021. "Towards equity and sustainability? China’s pension system reform moves center stage," Working Papers halshs-03215912, HAL.
    6. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen, 2022. "Is that really a Kuznets curve? Turning points for income inequality in China," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(4), pages 749-776, December.
    7. Li Yang, 2021. "Towards equity and sustainability? China’s pension system reform moves center stage," World Inequality Lab Working Papers halshs-03215912, HAL.
    8. Mu, Ren, 2022. "Perceived relative income, fairness, and the role of government: Evidence from a randomized survey experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Juzhong Zhuang & Peng Zhan & Shi Li, 2023. "Accounting for changes in income inequality in China, 2002–2018: evidence from household survey data," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 37(2), pages 3-26, November.
    10. Fields, Gary S. & Meng, Xin & Song, Yang, 2022. "Earnings mobility during labor market reforms in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Zhou, Yixiao & Tyers, Rod, 2019. "Automation and inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    12. Zhang, Eagle & Andrew, Jane, 2016. "Rethinking China: Discourse, convergence and fair value accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-21.
    13. Chen, Yiu Por (Vincent) & Zhang, Yuan, 2018. "A decomposition method on employment and wage discrimination and its application in urban China (2002–2013)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 1-12.
    14. Anson Au, 2023. "Reassessing the econometric measurement of inequality and poverty: toward a cost-of-living approach," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    15. Peng Bin & Andrea Fracasso, 2017. "Regional Consumption Inequality in China: An Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition at the Prefectural Level," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 459-486, September.
    16. Celine Bonnefond, 2014. "Growth Dynamics And Conditional Convergence Among Chinese Provinces: A Panel Data Investigation Using System Gmm Estimator," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 1-25, December.
    17. Zeng, Ting & Zhu, Shenghao, 2022. "The mobility of top earnings, income, and wealth in China: Facts from the 2011–2017 China household finance survey," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Huang, Ruting & Yao, Xin, 2023. "The role of power transmission infrastructure in income inequality: Fresh evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    19. Luo, Weixiang & Xie, Yu, 2020. "Economic growth, income inequality and life expectancy in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    20. Hau, Harald & Dautović, Ernest & Huang, Yi, 2017. "The Consumption Response to Minimum Wages: Evidence from Chinese Households," CEPR Discussion Papers 12057, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    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:eee:chieco:v:83:y:2024:i:c:s1043951x23001670. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    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.