Comparative Study Of Poverty Assistance Policies Of China And America

Since the reform and opening up, China has created the "China Wonder" and basked in the achievements of economic transformation. In the process of accelerating the social development, a phenomenon running counter to the essence of building up a well-off society has popped up. The relevant facts and data have basically indicated the signs of "poverty in the midst of plenty" depicted by Keynes. Under such circumstances, it is demanding to improve the assistance policy so as to grapple with the poverty confronting China.In fact, poverty and anti-poverty are very important topics for discussion all over the world. Many foreign experts and scholars have conducted abundant researches in this regard and accumulated considerable materials and practical experience pertaining to the formulation and improvement of poverty alleviation policies, which has reference values for the study of poverty-related issues and improvement of poverty alleviation policies.A comparison of China and America shows that China is not the only country suffering from "poverty in the midst of plenty", which, as a matter of fact, is an unavoidable stage in the process of social development. However, it is of prime importance to realize that such phenomenon does not spontaneously appear or web away; instead, it is necessary to study the deep-rooted causes and establish the supporting social assistance policy system. From the perspective of policy, the relevant personnel should improve the legal system building of social assistance and correct the values of poverty and poverty relief; reasonably set up the relief agencies and make clear the assignment of responsibility of each government department; refine the scope of assistance recipients and follow the scientific and reasonable standards; set up the comprehensive assistance system and intensify the enforcement strength; build up the external environment and guarantee each condition for assistance.Therefore, this paper will adopt the document analysis method and comparative analysis approach for the comparative analysis of the poverty status and assistance policies in China and America, summary of the assistance policy experience in America and its implementation limitations in China and the proposal of improvement measures on the basis of the actual situation in China.This paper consists of 5 parts.Part Ⅰ mainly introduces the research background and theoretical and realistic significance, expounding on the research status in China and foreign countries as well as the research thought, research method and innovations in this paper.Part Ⅱ offers a definition of the relevant concepts, including poverty, absolute poverty, relative poverty, poverty in the midst of plenty and social assistance and provides a study of the basic theories, such as multidimensional poverty theory, ability poverty theory, social polarization theory and social exclusion theory.Part Ⅲ offers a comparison of the poverty status in China and America from the perspectives of poverty status and causes. The recent situation of poverty in China can he comparable to that in America in terms of poverty line, Gini coefficient and poverty distribution. However, the causes of poverty differ from each other in the two countries with respect to development path, social system and economic trends and exert certain influence on the formation of poverty.Part Ⅳ mainly describes the assistance policy formulated for poverty alleviation in China and America and compares the poverty relief policies in the two countries in terms of legal system building, relief recipient, assistance standards, capital source and organization establishment so as to summarize the experience of America and analyze the feasibility and limitations in China.Part Ⅴ puts forward the plight in the formulation and enforcement of poverty alleviation policies in China on the basis of the relevant examples during Lyndon Johnson administration.Part Ⅶ proposes the improvement measures for poverty relief policies and institutional improvement.The innovation point of this paper lies in the application of abundant comparative analysis of the poverty status and assistance policy in China and America. This paper is plagued by the lack of empirical investigation and in-depth research on the theoretical issues. It is hoped that the related knowledge should be accumulated and enriched in the future learning and practice..