Identity, Human Capital and Poverty Reduction Effects: An empirical study based on China Family Panel Studies

Abstract

Poverty is a common problem worldwide, and governments have been com-mitted to poverty reduction. This study empirically examines the effect of identity on income poverty and multidimensional poverty in rural households. The findings show that identity has a significant negative impact on income and multidimensional poverty, in other words, identity has a significant pro-poor effect on rural households. Based on the 2016 and 2018 Chinese Family Tracking Survey (CFPS) data, the relationship between identity and the poverty-benefiting effect was empirically analyzed. The results show that identity has a significant pro-poor effect, and the results remain significant after adding control variables. The results remain robust after changing the measurement method and the explanatory variables. Heterogeneity analysis showed that the household head’s age, gender, education level, and regional factors also influenced the poverty-beneficial effect of identity. The above findings suggest that ensuring the farmers’ main status, building a homoge-neous identity, and giving full play to its poverty-benefiting effects can better consolidate the results of poverty eradication and promote the overall revitalization of the countryside. At the same time, it is urgent to build a high-quality platform for migrant workers to return to their hometowns for employment and entrepreneurship, focusing on the cultivation of new skills of rural resi-dents, improving their labor productivity, and providing a continuous supply of high-quality human capital for rural revitalization. Examining the effect of identity on poverty and income generation can provide theoretical support and policy suggestions for promoting the equalization of identity between rural and urban residents.