Researcher Kaixing Huang published an article in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE) analyzing the impact of China's fourth round of poverty alleviation policy

Release date：2024/09/09　　Source： CCAP

Recently, researcher Kaixing Huang and his doctoral student Yaxuan You published an article in the top-tier agricultural economics journal, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, analyzing the impact of China's fourth round of poverty alleviation policy. The policy targeted 680 impoverished counties across 14 contiguous poverty-stricken regions, covering a population of 240 million. From 2012 to 2019, China invested 813.6 billion yuan (approximately 126.1 billion USD) primarily in economic development projects in these regions. Using county-level panel data from 2006 to 2019 and employing difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity estimates, the study found that the program increased per capita GDP in these 14 impoverished regions by more than 45% between 2012 and 2019, with significant growth observed in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. The estimated return on investment for the program ranged between 155.8% and 165.8%. The research also revealed that the policy significantly improved rural incomes and reduced rural poverty. While the income growth of extremely poor households was mainly driven by increases in agricultural income, the income growth of relatively poor households largely stemmed from non-agricultural sources.

Article citation: Huang, Kaixing, and Yaxuan You. 2024. "Evaluating the Impact of the Fourth Round of China’s Poverty Alleviation Program." American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
DOI: 10.1111/ajae.12495