Development Research Center of the State Council

In September 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the General Debate of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly that China would strive to achieve peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. This means that China will reduce its carbon emissions from peak to near zero in about 30 years. There are both challenges and opportunities along this journey. China’s efforts to achieve the goals of a carbon emissions peak and carbon neutrality (known as dual carbon) are expected to drive the development of and innovation in new energy, and increase economic growth.

PurposeSince 2013, China has implemented targeted poverty alleviation policies, successfully eradicating absolute poverty nationwide by 2021. The fiscal funds allocated for poverty alleviation have significantly contributed to reducing poverty in impoverished areas. However, to date, there has been a lack of scholarly research specifically examining the effects of these fiscal poverty alleviation funds on both poverty reduction and economic growth. This study aims to address two key questions: What role do fiscal poverty alleviation funds play in reducing poverty? Additionally, do these funds contribute to economic growth?Design/methodology/approachProvincial panel data in China from 2010 to 2020 are used to test the impact of fiscal poverty alleviation funds on poverty reduction and economic growth. The empirical study of this paper primarily employs panel data within difference and two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation for causal identification.FindingsPoverty alleviation funds positively influence China’s economic growth and significantly reduce the rural poverty rate. During the sample period, the contribution of poverty alleviation funds to economic growth reached 7.3%, and the contribution to the reduction of the poverty incidence rate was 8.4%.Originality/valueThe key contribution of this study lies in its novel approach of using empirical methods to probe the impacts of fiscal poverty alleviation funds on provincial economic growth. Additionally, this paper also empirically tests the mechanisms by which fiscal poverty alleviation funds promote growth and reduce poverty, mainly by improving the infrastructure development conditions in impoverished areas.

Amidst significant public health events, a trend of increasing income disparities has emerged among specific demographics in China. This is characterized by substantial gains in the income and wealth of high-income individuals, alongside a growing income gap both across different economic strata and among various industries. To address these challenges, it is advised that comprehensive macroeconomic policies be deployed to alleviate the financial pressures on China's middle and lower income groups. These policies should focus on securing employment and fostering income growth for wage earners, enhancing the impact of taxation and philanthropy on income distribution, tightening oversight of the capital markets to curb rapid asset price inflation, speeding up the development of a layered social security system in China.

The article explores the experience of introducing Legal Design into the field of law. The reasons for the popularity of legal design and the reasons for its introduction into law enforcement practice and the field of lawmaking are revealed. It is noted that the main factors in the active use of the institution of legal design in law enforcement practice are the opportunities for wider access of citizens to legal information. It is concluded that in Russia the ideas of Design Thinking are just beginning to be cultivated among lawyers about the thought of the end user, which can pave the way for “people-oriented” lawmaking. The purpose of the study is to determine the role of legal design in identifying the problems of ensuring the right to access to information. The concept of legal design has been researched, its distinction with related concepts has been given: design thinking and visual law. The author's concept of legal design is proposed. Using the formal legal and systematic methods, as well as the method of social modeling, two trends were identified at the present stage of the application of information technologies in the legal profession: 1) democratization of access to legal information; 2) overcoming excessive formalism in its understanding by non-specialists. Conclusion: in modern Russia, design thinking is no longer a “new thing” for lawyers, because it is increasingly penetrating into various areas of legal practice, for example, as drafting normative legal acts. However, the issue of using design tools in jurisprudence should be approached comprehensively, identifying not only the difficulties of providing citizens with wider access to legal information, but also the lack of, on the one hand.

This paper examines the impact of high-standard basic farmland construction on farmers’ income in China using panel data at the provincial level from 2006 to 2021. The study aims to provide insights into the relationship between high-standard basic farmland construction and farmers’ income by employing a difference-in-differences model. The research background of this study is rooted in the importance of agricultural development and rural income improvement in China. As the agricultural sector plays a crucial role in ensuring food security and rural stability, it is essential to explore the effects of high-standard basic farmland construction on farmers’ income. The primary objective of this research is to estimate the impact of high-standard basic farmland construction on farmers’ income and to identify any heterogeneity in this relationship across different regions and income levels. By analyzing the baseline regression results, the study finds a significant positive effect of high-standard basic farmland construction on farmers’ income. To gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying this relationship, the study conducts further analysis on the impact pathways. The findings suggest that high-standard basic farmland construction enhances farmers’ income through improvements in agricultural production conditions, land transfer levels, and the cultivation of new agricultural management entities. Furthermore, the study explores the role of high-standard basic farmland construction in grain-producing and non-grain-producing regions. In grain-producing regions, high-standard basic farmland construction primarily increases farmers’ income from family-operated businesses. Conversely, in non-grain-producing regions, it predominantly boosts farmers’ income from wages and property. Overall, this research contributes to the understanding of the impact of high-standard basic farmland construction on farmers’ income in China. The findings highlight the importance of promoting high-standard basic farmland construction for rural income improvement, with implications for agricultural policies and rural development strategies.

Abstract Based on a survey of migrants in 12 cities across four major urbanizing areas in China, this paper empirically studies the impact of the size of individual social networks on the migrants’ wages. After controlling for potential endogeneity using an instrumental variable approach, our empirical results from 2SLS estimation provides no evidence for significant average causal effect of network size on wage. A further exploration of quantile regression analysis with endogeneity issue managed by using the control function approach shows that a significant positive network size effect can only be found in the low-income end.