Evaluation of Common Prosperity Level and Regional Difference Analysis along the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism as well as the common aspiration of social people. This article constructed an evaluation index system of 25 indicators for common prosperity, covering four dimensions of material wealth, harmonious social life, rich spiritual life, and livable ecological environment. The TOPSIS method was used to comprehensively rank nine provinces and two municipalities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The results show that the level of common prosperity along the Yangtze River Economic Belt increased significantly from 2010 to 2019, and the level of common prosperity in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt is much higher than that in the middle and upper reaches. According to the differences in common prosperity levels among regions, provinces and cities are divided into three categories: high, unbalanced, and low. Combined with the characteristics of each type of region, policy suggestions were put forward from the perspectives of strengthening the regional industrial cooperation mechanism, deepening the construction of regional livelihood infrastructure and basic public services, and improving the ability of regional environmental coordination.

Heterogeneity of Capability Deprivation and Subjective Sense of Gain: Analysis of Factor Mixture Models Based on 892 Rural Households in Six Provinces.

BACKGROUND: The capability approach conceptualizes poverty as capability deprivation. Given that functionings and opportunities as key factors are diverse, the combination of a varied lack of functionings and opportunities will lead to different deprivation patterns. Therefore, we sought to investigate the association between the category of capacity deprivation and the subjective acquisition of rural households. METHODS: Data were collected from the micro survey of 892 households in six provinces. The overall sense of acquisition was measured by self-assessment of life satisfaction and the relative sense of gain was measured by self-assessment of social status and communication confidence. Capability deprivation was assessed through evaluation functionings and opportunities for a better life, such as education, social security, medical and health services, living conditions and spiritual and cultural activities. The factor mixture models were used to investigate the group categories of capability deprivation and ordered probit regression was used to estimate the associations between the categories of capability deprivation and sense of gain. RESULTS: There were mild, moderate and severe differences among the deprivation items reflecting functionings and opportunities. In addition, capability deprivation was grouped into four classes: double deprivation of functionings and opportunities, severe deprivation of opportunities, functionings deprivation and non-poverty. There was a significant negative relationship between deprivation classes and the subjective sense of gain. CONCLUSION: The deprivation from some social participation functions and services led to a reduced sense of acquisition. However, serious deprivations from educational opportunities and social participation opportunities were the main reason for the lower sense of gain. Eliminating the unequal educational opportunities and social participation opportunities for people is imperative to improving the subjective sense of gain.

Loss of Happiness for Land-Expropriated, Urbanised Residents: A Comparison Based on Multiple Groups.

Are land-expropriated, urbanised residents living happily? This question is not only related to the quality of urbanisation but also has important reference for evaluating the reform of the land acquisition system. On the basis of the Chinese General Social Survey data in 2017 and 2018, the HeckProbit model, the ordered probit model and the mediating effect model were used to study the happiness and underlying mechanism of land-expropriated, urbanised residents. The results showed that the older the farmers are, the lower the probability of obtaining urban hukou through land acquisition, and women will be more likely to achieve household registration through land requisition. Education and party status have significant inhibitory effects on hukou conversion through land acquisition. A comparison among multiple groups indicated that the happiness level of each group is ranked as follows: residents who attained urban hukou through education and job recruitment > urban native residents > land-expropriated, urbanised residents > farmers; however, the happiness level of the latter two groups has no significant difference. The propensity score matching method was further used to reduce the endogeneity due to selection bias, and the results were still robust. The lower self-assessment of socioeconomic status indirectly caused the loss of happiness of land-expropriated, urbanised residents. However, the high living expectation 'suppressed' the negative effect of land acquisition on happiness to some extent.