| On the theoretical basis of welfare economics, this dissertation studies the problems relating to the welfare level, the welfare objective and the factors determining the welfare level of the rural migrants induced by hydroeletric projects in China. The first problem is about the welfare level of rural migrants induced by hydroeletric projects. Adopting the indirect measurement in welfare survey, this thesis proposes that the welfare standard of rural migrants should be measured according to the consumer expenditure. Consumer expenditure includes both value expenditure and material expenditure. The welfare standard of rural migrants can be indirectly measured by the indicators system that combines the value indicators with the material indicators of living consumer expenditure. Overall, the welfare level of the rural migrants induced by hydroeletric projects in China is restricted by the times. During the period from the founding of the People's Republic of China to 1957, there had been no fluctuation in welfare of the migrants after their migration. However, from 1958 to 1979, the welfare standard of them after their migration became generally worsened. Then, since the reform and opening to the outside world, the newly-appeared rural migrants have kept or even improved the welfare standard they owned before their migration .In the middle of the 1980s, the deteriorating welfare situation of them before the reform has been controlled after the enforcement of the governmental policy of "remained problems of migrants". The second problem is on the welfare objective of rural migrants. Taking into consideration of the improvement of both the whole social welfare and the partial social welfare, and the combination of absolute welfare with relative welfare, this thesis argues that the welfare objective of the rural migrants should be to make their welfare be equal to or even surpass the welfare standard before their migration, not below the welfare standard of those local citizens of the reservoir areas in the corresponding period. The factors that determine the welfare level of the rural migrants are the research focus of this thesis. First, the compensation to the rural migrants for their emigration is an important factor that determines the short-term welfare standard after their migration. Thus, rural migrants should be compensated for the loss of their land by being flooded or levied. The compensation for rural migration takes different forms and types. It includes full compensation and adequate compensation; fund compensation and material compensation; production compensation and living compensation; private goods compensation and public goods compensation as well as visible compensation and invisible compensation. There exists the problem to coordinate and balance the different interests in dealing with compensation. Compensation standard is dependent on the interplay of the state government, the local government, the proprietor and the migrants. The present study, making use of the model of buyer monopoly, also exposes the nature of exploitation of the state or the proprietor on the migrants in the form of compensation, relying on the buyer's monopoly power. It expounds that compensation often, to some extent sacrifices the interests of the rural migrants, one partial social welfare, while pursuing the whole social welfare. At present, there remain a lot of problems to be solved in the compensation to the rural migrants of irrigation projects in China, such as the compensation for the difference in welfare, "three originals" compensation standard, several respective sides' attitudes to compensation to the rural migrants and the low legislative level for compensation. This thesis suggests that the migrants' compensation system should be improved, the settlement allowance for migrants' production should be raised, the compensation standard for resettlement should be unified, the expenditure for fundamental facilities and compensation for professional facilities for both city and rural migrants should be adequately adjusted and the direct and indirect compensation expenditure should be clearly defined. Furthermore, under the guidance of the developmental migration policy, the relationship between compensation funds and development funds should be properly handled so as to set up a compensation system of rural migrants induced by projects to meet the needs of market economy. Secondly, the production income is the main source of rural migrants' income, which not only influences their short-term welfare level, but also determines fundamentally their long-term welfare level. The production income of them depends on the factors of production, land, fundamental facilities, fertilizer, seeds and selling price of the products. To increase the production income of them, the following measures must be carried out: (1) To enlarge the average land resource of every rural migrant. (2) To strengthen the building of fundamental facilities of water, electricity and roads. (3) To develop human resources of the rural migrants. (4) To adjust the economic structure of the resettled areas of the rural migrants. Drawing on the advantages of the resources of these areas to develop farming, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production and fishery properly and the processing industry of the related products so as to develop secondaryand tertiary industries. (5) To greatly develop courtyard economy. (6) To raise rural migrants' income by carrying out policies favorable to them, including supporting the prices of rural products, subsiding the selling of the rural products made by rural immigrants, cutting down or freeing the revenue of rural immigrants and restricting the cultivation in reservoir areas. Next, the social security for rural migrants of water conservancy project is an effective measurement to guarantee the poor rural migrants' essential welfare level. The rural migrants of water conservancy project can be classified into poor rural migrants and average ones according to their different living standard. When compensation standard for them is low and their production income is very limited, the rural migrants may get into poor situations. Social support to them is a necessary complement to the welfare they can get by means of market system as well as an effective way to guarantee the essential welfare level for those poor rural migrants. The social security for rural migrants includes social succour; social insurance, social welfare and special treatment to migrants and etc. The historical practice of social security for rural migrants in China embodies the following characteristics: (1) The social security for them has been too low and too limited to meet the practical needs of the vast numbers of rural migrants. (2) On the relationship between social security for rural migrants and for the general masses, the former is on the one hand, related to the social security for the general rural inhabitants, on the other hand, owns its peculiarities in that the rural migrants enjoy not only the privileges from the general social security, but also the rights from the state policies favorable to them. (3) As for the contents of social security, what the rural migrants enjoy from social security is mainly from social succor and social welfare projects. The social insurance system for rural migrants is not imperfect. (4) With respect of fund source, there have been no special projects set for social security funds for rural migrants. (5) In regard to management, social security for rural migrants is actually controlled by multi-sides.
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