Social Security in China: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

This chapter provides a schematic historical background, relevant for the present purposes, and presents an overview of social security in China. It discusses the details of the social-security programmes and the relevant features of the economy with reference to rural areas and urban areas. The chapter notes that when analysing the Chinese social-security system, it is important to bear in mind that the Chinese economy has undergone a series of revolutionary transformations since 1949. It emphasizes that, in China, the pervasive State control of industry and fundamental changes in the land tenure have made it possible for measures for preventing and alleviating deprivation to be built into the fabric of the economy to a degree that simply would not be feasible in an evolutionary framework.

Options and impact of China's pension reform: a computable general equilibrium analysis

“…2 On China's pension reform, see Ahmad and Hussain (1991), RGSSS (1995), Dorfman and Sin (2000), Friedman et al (1996), Hussain (1993), James (1997, 1999), World Bank (1997), and Zhou (1994. 3 Government liabilities can be classified into four categories, namely, explicit and direct (formal debt, budgeted expenditure), explicit and contingent (government guarantees and deposit insurance schemes), implicit and current (social insurance expenditure), and implicit and contingent (default of state-owned enterprises, banks, and social insurance funds).…”

Human resources in China: the birth quota, returns to schooling, and migration

“…I have earlier argued that this group of poor rural elderly is most adversely affected by the birth quota. The next generation of elderly in the rural areas of China will be even more vulnerable, having fewer children to support them, and few public pensions and deteriorating public health care (Ahmad and Hussain, 1989).…”

Social Security in Developing Countries

“…However, by defining social security within a broader context, we assumed implicitly that social security can be found in all kind of societies. Recent studies (Ahmad et al 1991;Benda-Beckmann et al 1988;Bossert 1985;Partsch 1983) show that also in non-industrialized societies forms of social security exist, often different from those in the industriahzed societies.…”