Scheme In China Research Articles

Can decreased cost-sharing reduce the vulnerability of sick families to poverty? An analysis of the multi-level social health insurance scheme in China.

In recent years, China has been increasing social health insurance benefits to alleviate poverty due to illness. In 2015, China introduced the Critical Illness Insurance for patients with high out-of-pocket expenses as supplementary to the social health insurance, which categorized patients with different medical expenses into different cost-sharing policies. We conducted a survey on households with high-cost patients in rural Shandong in 2019 and employed the instrumental variables estimation approach to determine how different cost-sharing measures affect households' poverty vulnerability. We found that cost-sharing reduction significantly decreases the vulnerability of sick families to poverty. Moreover, we found that the positive effect is attributed to a reduction in health burden and household livelihood capital shocks. The vulnerability to poverty is still exceptionally high owing to the heavy health burden in rural China and other developing countries. The results of our study provide insights into poverty alleviation by improving social health insurance in developing economies.

Does Eco-Compensation Alleviate Rural Poverty? New Evidence from National Key Ecological Function Areas in China.

The Transfer Payment Policy of National Key Ecological Functional Areas (TPEFAP), a well-known ecological compensation (eco-compensation) scheme in China, has been proposed by the government to alleviate ecological poverty and protect the environment. In literature, the effectiveness of the TPEFAP on environmental conservation has been widely examined, while few pay attention to the effect of the TPEFAP on poverty alleviation, especially with the consideration of its spatial spillovers as well. In this paper, we utilize panel data covering the key ecological functional areas of China during the period 2011–2018 to evaluate the impact of the TPEFAP on poverty alleviation and also its spatial spillovers by employing the synthetic control method (SCM) and the dynamic spatial Durbin model, respectively. Specifically, we apply the entropy weight method (EWM) to calculate the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) and measure pro-poor effect in terms of MPI change. The results show that: (1) TPEFAP has stable positive effects on MPI in Hubei, Yunnan, Jilin, Gansu, and Ningxia, while the impact on Qinghai fluctuates. (2) MPI presents a significant spatial correlation. Furthermore, both the direct and indirect effects of TPEFAP on MPI are significant and stable positive, for both short- or long-term. (3) For potential channels, rural non-farm employment, rural labor mobility, and agricultural productivity are the key pathways through which the TPEFAP can alleviate poverty both in local and adjacent provinces. However, it is difficult to find significant positive spatial spillovers for the TPEFAP if only the natural resources scale is considered. This study indicates that the government should pay attention to the policy expectations of ecological poverty alleviation and, in future eco-compensation, must further increase the coverage of subsidies and diversify the forms of subsidies.

Interaction mechanism between dual-credit pricing and automobile manufacturers’ electrification decisions

The newly released dual-credit policy (DCP) in 2017 established a market-based credit trading scheme in China to facilitate the electrification transition of automobile manufacturers. However, it has not yet served its intended purpose perfectly. This study concerns the interaction between credit pricing and manufacturers’ electrification and develops a mathematical model of optimal investment timing and capacity utilization rate to investigate the traction mechanism and optimization strategy of the DCP. The results suggest that tightening the policy positively impacts electrification but does not necessarily lead to immediate investment by all manufacturers. Interestingly, while electrification leads firms to generate more credits to meet policy constraints, it promotes higher capacity utilization rates, resulting in equilibrium credit prices and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions potentially rising rather than falling. Furthermore, a novel government target indicator that includes economic and environmental aspects is introduced to help revise the DCP and advise automobile manufacturers on electrification decisions.

An innovative provincial CO2 emission quota allocation scheme for Chinese low-carbon transition

China inaugurated its nationwide emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2021 as a key policy instrument to fulfill its carbon-peak and carbon-neutrality commitments. The allocation scheme of Chinese ETS is based on grandfathering and benchmarking and has been argued as economically inefficient. This paper proposes an alternative emission quota allocation scheme, a prospective zero-sum gain data envelopment analysis (pZSG-DEA) approach, to efficiently allocate CO2 emission quotas among market participants. We examined the potential economic gains and losses of implementing this scheme in China. Results showed that the proposed quota allocation can potentially lower the country's carbon intensity in 2020 by an additional 6.96 % compared to the 2005 level. The gains and losses vary substantially across 30 provinces. Beijing, Chongqing, and Zhejiang, were identified as potential quota receivers because increasing their emission quotas could lead to large economic gains; while Liaoning, Hebei, and Guizhou could be major quota givers as their emission reduction is associated with low economic losses. This study could be informative for the design of a high-efficiency emission quota allocation scheme for China's nationally unified emission trading market.

Social Pensions and Children’s Educational Outcomes: The Case of New Rural Pension Scheme in China

Social Pensions and Children’s Educational Outcomes: The Case of New Rural Pension Scheme in China

Testing for time stochastic dominance

We propose nonparametric tests for the null hypothesis of time stochastic dominance. Time stochastic dominance makes a partial order of different prospects over time based on the net present value criteria for general utility and time discount function classes. For example, time stochastic dominance can be used for ranking investment strategies or environmental policies based on the expected net present value of the future benefits. We consider an Lp-type test statistic and derive its large sample distribution under standard panel data sampling scheme with fixed time dimension. We suggest a path-wise (or cluster) bootstrap procedure that allows individual time series dependence over the time horizon. We describe two approaches, the contact-set approach and the numerical delta method, that may lead to enhanced power compared to the conventional least-favorable-case based approach. We prove the asymptotic validity of our testing procedures. We investigate the finite sample performance of the tests in simulation studies. As an illustration, we apply the proposed tests to evaluate the Million Baht Village Fund Program in Thailand and carbon emission trading scheme in China.

Great China Carbon Trading: Political Economy of Climate Change Governance

This study aims to analyze the political economy aspect of carbon trading markets in China and how it will influence climate change governance. It is essential to understand the underpinning political economy aspects of emerging carbon trading markets in China because China will operate the world’s largest carbon market. China’s work on carbon trading represents higher requirements for China’s national industries and a higher commitment to addressing climate change. This study uses an exploratory qualitative approach to examine the history of carbon trading in China, its political economy aspects, and how China's carbon trading can significantly contribute to climate change. When China launched its national carbon trading scheme in 2021, the size of China's carbon trading became the world's most extensive climate policy scheme. This study shows that China’s rigorous environmental policy experimentations to gradually establish carbon trading by implementing the CDM projects, setting up regional carbon trading pilots in six cities, finalizing regulations, and establishing a mechanism for national carbon trading have been successful. The prospect and potential of China's carbon trading are enormous, considering the size of the CDM projects in China, China’s position as one of the largest emitters in the world, and the scale of industries included in the national carbon trading scheme in China. However, there are still uncertainties in the prospect of carbon trading in China, historically weak climate policy enforcement, and misreporting of data that can affect the integrity of China’s calculation.

Does supplemental private health insurance incentivize household risky financial asset investment? Evidence from the China Household Financial Survey.

Private health insurance (PHI) is considered a supplement to public medical insurance schemes in China. To the extent that PHI coverage may offset background risk by decreasing medical expenditure risk, it may also incentivize risky financial behaviors. However, empirical evidence confirming this theory is absent in China. We fill this void by examining the impact of supplemental PHI on household risky financial investment using data from the China Household Financial Survey (CHFS). In the first set of analyses, we used bivariate probit (BVP) models with instrumental variables (IVs) to examine the effects of PHI on the extensive margin of household risky financial investment. In the second set of analyses, we used Tobit models with a two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) framework to examine the effects of PHI on the corresponding intensive margin. The results indicated that supplemental PHI increased the probability of holding risky financial assets. On top of that, PHI increased the percentage of total financial assets allocated to risky financial investment. Such effects were more pronounced on stocks than on other risky products. Our findings provided evidence that purchasing supplemental PHI in China may increase the risk tolerance of financial investment, and risk attitude is a mediating factor between PHI ownership and risky financial investment behavior.

Adaptation to Climate Change Risks and Regulation Through Insurance: The Case of China

Abstract Insurance transfers and spreads risk, including climate change risk. It can provide direct financial protection to those affected by climate change. It has received attention for its regulatory function in influencing policyholder behaviour. This is sometimes called ‘insurance as governance’, a form of private contractual regulation. This article examines the functions and limits of insurance in climate-related compensation and in governing complex climate-related risks by describing the variable performance of such insurance schemes in China. We show that insurance can perform a useful regulatory function in adaptation to climate change. However, we equally make clear that insurance can play this role only if an appropriate regulatory framework is provided. The case of China illustrates how the very lack of such a regulatory framework limits the role that insurers can play in climate change adaptation.

Reducing Multidimensional Poverty of Elderly: The Role of the New Rural Pension Scheme in China

Poverty is a multidimensional concept. Besides income, it also includes many nonmonetary dimensions, such as education, health, housing, and access to public goods. Applying a nationally representative survey dataset, this study mainly investigates the role of China’s New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) in reducing multidimensional poverty among the rural elderly. We first select four dimensions of life quality, health, social inclusion, and subjective welfare to construct multidimensional poverty indicators. We then divide the sample into two parts by age (45–59 and above 60) and evaluate the poverty‐reduction effects of participating behaviors and receiving behavior separately. Moreover, we use the insured subsample to investigate the dynamic influence from insured status on received status. The results showed that, for the 45–59 age group, NRPS participation helped reduce poverty across the given indicators, especially in terms of health, life, and subjective welfare. For the elderly (over 60), receiving the pension effectively reduced poverty. In addition, we found that as age increases, pension income can effectively alleviate the insured subgroup’s multidimensional experience of poverty.

Multi-Layer and Multi-Objective Optimization Design of Supporting Structure of Large-Scale Spherical Solar Concentrator for the Space Solar Power Station

Space solar power station is a novel renewable energy equipment in space to provide the earth with abundant and continuous power. The Orb-shaped Membrane Energy Gathering Array, one of the alternative construction schemes in China, is promising for collecting space sunlight with a large-scale spherical concentrator. Both the structural and optical performances such as root mean square deformation, natural frequency, system mass, and sunlight blocking rate have significant influences on the system property of the concentrator. Considering the comprehensive performance of structure and optic, this paper proposes a novel mesh grid based on normal polyhedron projection and spherical arc bisection for the supporting structure to deal with the challenge of the large-scale structural modular design. For both achieving low system mass and high surface precision, a multilayer and multi-objective optimization model is proposed by classifying the supporting structure into different categories and optimizing their internal and external diameters. The Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm is adopted to find optimal sectional dimensions of the different kinds of supporting structure. The infinite model is also established and structural analysis is carried out, which are expected to provide a certain reference for the subsequent detailed structural design. The numerical results indicate that the spherical concentrator designed by the novel mesh grid would obtain as high as 94.37% sunlight collection efficiency. The supporting structure constructed with the multiple layers would reduce the system quality by 6.92%, sunlight blocking rate by 28.54%, maximum deformation by 41.50%, and root mean square by 9.48% to the traditional single layer, respectively.

Health Insurances and the Health-Related Work Capacity of Retirement-Aged Workers: A Comparative Investigation.

This study is to investigate the health-related work capacity of retirement-aged workers under the beneficiary status of different health insurance schemes in China. Using the data from CHARLS program, we investigate the health-related work capacity of retirement-aged workers in China (more than 60/55 years-old for men/women respectively). Multivariate regressions and robustness checks (Heckman two-stage procedures, chronological design, etc) are conducted. (1) Late-life career participation could reduce the risk of declining work capacity due to health problems; (2) different social health insurances affect health-related work capacity among retirement-aged workers differently; (3) social health insurances influence the role of late-life career participation in reducing the risk of health-related work capacity, with different schemes displaying different effects (mitigate or strengthen). Systematic inequity in benefit across health insurances may result in contrasting health outcomes of retirement-aged workers.

Occupational noise-related perception and personal protection behavior among Chinese construction workers

Noise emissions from the construction industry, whose harm and hazard take a long time to appear, are random and irregular. Therefore, the occupational health impact imposed by construction noise is constantly underestimated or even ignored. Based on the Health Promotion Model (HPM), this study proposes a conceptual model to understand the link among occupational noise exposure, individual factors, environmental factors, perceptual-cognitive factors, and personal protection behavior towards construction noise. A series of hypotheses are further proposed to investigate the relationship between occupational noise-related perception and personal protection behavior among Chinese construction workers. Through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), it was found that noise sensitivity has a remarkable positive impact on workers' noise effect perception and personal protection behavior while noise effect perception plays a mediating role. Besides, safety climate can influence workers’ risk perception, and expectation and valuation, in a significantly positive way and has a direct effect on personal protection behavior, meanwhile risk perception, and expectation and valuation play a parallel mediating role without mutual influence. Occupational noise exposure plays a significant negative moderating role between noise sensitivity and noise effect perception, while occupational noise exposure has the same effect on the mediating effect of noise effect perception. These findings deepen the theoretical understandings of construction workers’ protection behavior towards construction noise. The study also benefits formulation of reasonable construction noise management scheme in China.

Prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment of hepatitis C in Mainland China.

Infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma in China. Rapid economic development has had an enormous impact on the epidemiology and treatment of hepatitis C. The prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies in Mainland China is approximately 0.91%, and use of injected drugs has become the main route of HCV transmission in China. Reimbursement for 3 direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has been approved by the National Medical Insurance scheme in China, which ensures the accessibility of treatment for an HCV infection. To improve the awareness of treatments for hepatitis C among medical personnel and the rate of in-hospital screening for HCV, the Chinese Medical Association has formulated guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C and a process of in-hospital screening for hepatitis C in China. These efforts have standardized the screening, diagnosis, treatment, and management of hepatitis C. Based on the international strategy for micro-elimination of hepatitis C, China has also screened and treated groups at risk of hepatitis C infection, and this has reduced the number of the infected. The current review describes the status of and issues with the prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment of hepatitis C in Mainland China as part of the global effort to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030.

Equity in healthcare financing following the introduction of the unified residents' health insurance scheme in China.

This study sought to explore whether there are significant disparities in the financing of healthcare between urban and rural populations following the introduction in 2016 of the Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI) scheme in China. We used household survey data from Heilongjiang province to estimate separate concentration curves in the financing burden and the resultant Kakwani indices (KIs) for urban and rural populations. This enabled the assessment of the progressivity (or otherwise) of this burden. The results show that in urban areas indirect taxes were proportional (KI = 0.0009, P = 0.8449), while indirect taxes in rural areas were progressive (KI = 0.0284, P = 0.0002). In both urban and rural areas, direct taxes were found to be progressive (urban: KI = 0.4628, P < 0.0001; rural: KI = 0.4087, P = 0.0064), while URRBMI was regressive (urban: KI = - 0.6236, P < 0.0001; rural: KI = - 0.4325, P < 0.0001). Out-of-pocket payments were proportional in urban areas (KI = - 0.0064, P = 0.7490); in contrast, they were regressive in rural areas (KI = - 0.1078, P = 0.0012). Overall, the burden of healthcare finance in urban China was found to be neither regressive nor progressive (KI = - 0.0142, P = 0. 1397), whereas in rural China it was found to be regressive (KI = - 0.1208, P < 0.0001). This result is driven by high reliance on regressive forms of funding, namely, fixed contributions to URRBMI, out-of-pocket costs and private health insurance. It is concluded that achieving equity in health financing in China will require strong measures to reduce the regressivity of financing, particularly for rural populations. This can be achieved through a shift towards means-adjusted URRBMI contributions, a greater reliance on tax-based financing and reducing the reliance on out-of-pocket payments and private health insurance.

Research on Identification of Multiple Cropping Index of Farmland and Regional Optimization Scheme in China Based on NDVI Data

The multiple cropping index of farmland is a significant characterization of land use intensity. Based on the NDVI data, this paper calculated the multiple cropping index of farmland in China using the S-G filtering method, and proposed an optimized regionalization scheme for the farmland use. The findings reveal that from 2000 to 2018, the multiple cropping index of farmland in China underwent the fluctuation of rising first, then falling and rising continuously, which was closely associated with the agricultural support policies enforced in China. Counties whose multiple cropping indexes decreased from 2009 to 2018 were mainly located in areas primarily producing grain, which exerted a greater influence on food security. The gap between the multiple cropping index and potential multiple cropping index of farmland is increasingly widening from north to south in China. Accordingly, four types of grain producing zones were delineated: key development zone, potential growth zone, appropriate development zone, and restricted development zone. Some suggestions, such as rotation, fallow, determination of yield by water and offsetting the quantity balance of farmland by increasing the multiple cropping index, are put forward based on different zones.

Private Parking Space Sharing Intention in China: An Empirical Study Based on the MIMIC Model

The shared parking scheme improves the utilization rate of existing parking resources and contributes to the sustainable development of cities, but many private parking spaces that are not included in the shared parking scheme have a low utilization rate in China. In order to better promote the shared parking scheme, it is necessary to study the intention of the owners of private parking spaces to share their parking spaces. Therefore, this paper used the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Benefit-Risk Analysis Model (BRA) as the combined theoretical framework (C-UTAUT-BRA). Hypothesis testing using the Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model was performed using an empirical assessment of the shared parking scheme in China. The results show that (1) the sharing behavioral intention (BI) is directly affected by perceived benefit (PB), perceived risk (PR), social influence (SI), and facilitating condition (FC) and indirectly affected by effort expectancy (EE), of which the total effect of PB is the largest; (2) exogenous variables have an indirect effect on BI through other psychological latent variables; among them, different sociodemographic and economic characteristics have a significant influence on different latent variables, while the built environment has no significant effect on latent variables. This research contributes to theory building in shared parking participation intention and informs business and government leaders on how to promote the shared parking scheme through the action mechanism of influencing factors on BI.

Key Stakeholder Perspectives on Introducing a Front-of-Package Labelling Scheme on Package Foods in China: A Qualitative Study

Background: Front-of-pack (FoP) labelling on foods is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to address the growing global burden of diet-related non-communicable diseases, but this policy has not yet been implemented in China. The aim of this study was to ascertain key stakeholders’ views on the need for a FoP labelling scheme and understand barriers and facilitators to developing a feasible and acceptable FoP labelling policy in the Chinese context. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit opinions about introducing FoP labelling in China from diverse representatives in roles of FoP labelling policy influence. Participants were identified by purposive and snowball sampling. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was adopted to facilitate data collection and analysis. Interview recordings were transcribed verbatim and coded in NVivo 12. Themes and subthemes were generated using deductive and inductive approaches. Findings: Thirty participants were interviewed, representing government agencies (n=5), technical support agencies (n=8), professional associations (n=3), the food industry (n=7), the mass media (n=3), and consumer groups (n=4). Barriers and facilitators were identified across CFIR domains. The major barriers to FoP labelling development were the absence of national contextual analysis, perceived complexity of the process of policy development, disagreement on a preferred FoP labelling format, cost for the food industry, low priority compared to food safety policies, lack of existing regulatory framework or authorized nutrient profiling system, limited knowledge of FOP labelling, and the lack of planning and engagement with stakeholders. Facilitators included existing mandatory nutrient declarations on the back of food packages as a prerequisite for FoP labelling, experiences and lessons learned from piloting the “Healthier Choice” and “Smart Choice” logos, policy coherence with Healthy China 2030, and support from external agents (e.g., WHO). Interpretation: Although there is growing interest in FoP labelling in China, further efforts are required to develop and collate evidence to demonstrate the scientific, legal, and political feasibility of introducing effective FoP labelling. Facilitators and barriers identified in the study can potentially inform key considerations and steps to build support among stakeholders and contribute to the development of a FoP labelling scheme in China. Funding: The study was financed in part by WHO China Representative Office. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of WHO. Declaration of Interest: None to declare. Ethical Approval: Ethical approval was received from the Chinese Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Approval No.: 202024).

A performance analysis framework for carbon emission quota allocation schemes in China: Perspectives from economics and energy conservation

Carbon emission quota allocation plays a critical role in carbon emission reduction in an efficient and economic manner. However, the scientific assessment of carbon quota allocation schemes and thus making a reasonable decision depending on preference still confuses relevant decision makers. This study proposes a performance analysis framework for carbon quota allocation schemes by using a nonparametric frontier analysis approach from the perspectives of economic growth and energy conservation. Then, we apply this approach to evaluate the relative economic and energy conservation performances of 15 allocation schemes by reallocating the 2015 Chinese provincial carbon emission quotas, each of which is constructed via a combination of equity, grandfathering, efficiency and ability to pay principles. The results show that the proposed allocation scheme that integrates efficiency and the ability to pay principles is the best option, realizing approximately 6.78% outputs increase and 3.01% energy conservation relative to the actual 2015 emission scenario. We also show that the best scheme is linked to total quotas; the scheme considering only the equity principle is superior to others, while the total quotas are reduced by 10%. The study provides not only a theoretical tool, but also empirical evidence for the construction of China's carbon quota allocation scheme.

A comparative study on the indicative function of species and traits structure of stream macroinvertebrates to human disturbances

The selection of suitable indicators is the key to the development of multi-metric bioassessment. Here, we examined how taxonomic and functional structures of macroinvertebrate communities responded to the environmental gradients in ten mountainous streams in the Weihe River and Hanjiang River basins, two subtropical biodiversity hotspots in central China. Our main objectives were: 1) to examine whether trait-based metrics performed better than taxonomic compositions in differentiating environmental gradients; 2) to test whether indicators (species and traits) were more efficient than entire communities in discriminating three site groups subjected to different levels of human disturbances. Our results showed that both taxonomic and functional trait compositions, including species- and trait-based indicators, were all sensitive to environmental disturbance. Particularly, the trait-based variables responded more sensitive to human disturbances. Indicator assemblages can be effective surrogates of entire communities in response to environmental changes. Traits- and indicators-based metrics should be considered as useful supplements in the existent bio-monitoring schemes in China. We argued that the combination of taxonomic and functional indicators should be implemented in bioassessment, as they reflect different aspects of environmental changes and anthropogenic disturbances.