Rural poverty in China fell from 96 percent in 1980 to less than 1 percent of the population in 2019. Using PovcalNet data for China and a set of comparable countries, this paper estimates growth-poverty elasticities. It finds that China stands out for its record of sustained, fast growth,...

This paper uses new poverty data based on household level surveys to analyze changes in rural poverty and rural-urban poverty differences in 23 transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. The paper presents a series of hypotheses to explain differences across...

In China, inequality in social welfare is of rising political concern. This case study analyzes the determinants of well-being of rural households in Hebei using a secondary panel data set (1986 to 2006). One key question is how well-being was affected by institutional changes in times of...