An Empirical Analysis on the Persistent Effects of Poverty Alleviation Program in China

Abstract

Using the 2011-2012 county-level panel data, the paper empirically investigates whether counties exited from the poverty alleviation program affect their economic growth. The identification uses the adjustment of lists of national poverty counties initiated by Chinese government in 2011. It shows that the poverty alleviation program leads to large gains in economy growth that are eventually reversed when the counties quit from the program. Besides, the fiscal revenues and expenditures significantly decline when previous national poverty counties are excluded from the lists.