Ling Zhu

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences | CASS · Institute of Economics

China’s experiences with addressing extreme poverty and marginality are presented and analyzed. The evolution of effective and efficient policies, especially in rural areas is found closely connected to China’s economic growth in the past three decades, as well as to regional inequality. The “Di Bao” (minimum livelihood guarantee system) in differe...

China's small farmers face increasing challenges because of land and water resource constraints and the effects of climate change. With the strengthened agricultural stimulus policies, poverty reduction and social protection programs, as well as the expanding international food trade, up to now China has achieved food security through small farm ag...

This statistics-based study shows that in China the urban-rural income gap is contributing more to general income inequality than regional income gaps are. The regional income disparity sets in an east-west plus central contrast while the urban-rural gap is most significantly present in the west and central areas between the cities and the countrys...

Based on sample survey data for the years 2006 and 2007, we find that inflation of food and energy prices in China is moving at a slower pace than in the international market; however, the livelihood of low income groups has been significantly impacted. Urban sample households in low income groups have been shifting from consumption of high value f...

This paper presents research results from the evaluation of the Medical Financial Assistance (MFA) program, supported by the World Bank, to extremely poor rural residents. It is found that MFA can help to improve the ability of the poor to make use of medical services, and especially their ability to receive services from township clinics. The pres...

During the course of urbanization and industrialization, a growing number of farmers have become landless as local governments have bought out their land for non-agricultural uses. Even in the localities where the industrialization process absorbs a vast majority of rural labor, the questions of how to compensate for the economic shock on the rural...

(Abstract) Based on the local archive and author's case studies in addition to a sample survey this paper will review the historical development of the cooperative health insurance system and analyze the problems emerging in the ongoing experiment of reestablishing the cooperative systems. It is concluded that the cooperative insurance neither can...