| Eliminating poverty,improving people’s livelihood and gradually realizing common prosperity are the essential requirements of socialism.With the comprehensive solution to the problem of absolute poverty,in the new stage of moving towards common prosperity,China will focus on the governance of relative poverty.Relative poverty is poverty based on social comparison,which mainly reflects the balance of national development.However,the multidimensional deprivation and inadequate development of income,housing,employment,education,medical care,culture and other aspects have made some farmers in a weak position in the development of the whole group and failed to fully integrate into society.The important reason is that these farmers have insufficient endogenous power to achieve sustainable and stable poverty alleviation.For the attribution study of the relative poverty of farmers,most scholars are devoted to exploring the impact of external factors on the relative poverty of rural households.However,the empirical literature on the relative poverty of rural households from the perspective of endogenous dynamics is scarce,most of which is empirical analysis from the perspective of human capital.However,the new human capital theory believes that non-cognitive skills are the core of human capital.If the non-cognitive skills are not separated from human capital,it will lead to deviations in the estimated results.Therefore,under the realistic background that some farmers have serious ideas of "waiting to rely on",insufficient spiritual motivation to get rid of poverty,and limited behavioral ability,this study will explore whether non-cognitive skills measured by positive self,social skills,and emotional stability can optimize the livelihood strategies and alleviate relative poverty of rural households? Are there heterogeneous effects in different groups? What is the path of non-cognitive skills affecting farmers’ livelihood strategies and relative poverty?The answers to the above questions not only enrich the endogenous power theory of farmers’ relative poverty alleviation,expand the sustainable livelihood framework of poverty alleviation of rural households,but also provide a decision-making basis for the government to formulate relevant policies.Focusing on the problem of alleviating the relative poverty of rural households,this study follows the idea of "theoretical research-reality investigation-empirical test-policy suggestion" for research.Specifically,first,this study analyzes the theoretical logic of the measurement and governance of farmers’ relative poverty based on the relative poverty theory.On this basis,according to the new human capital theory,the sustainable livelihood theory and the internal and external cause theory,the theoretical analysis framework of "noncognitive skills-Livelihood Strategy Choice-relative poverty of rural households" is constructed to clarify the internal logic among the three.Second,we use policy documents and statistical data to sort out the historical evolution and practical problems of rural relative poverty at the macro level and use the large-scale sampling survey data of cfps2018 to measure and statistically analyze the non-cognitive skills and relative poverty of rural households.Third,three parts of the empirical analysis are carried out by using microdata:historical evolution and reality inspection of rural relative poverty have been sorted out using policy documents and statistical data from the macro level,and the non-cognitive skills and relative poverty of rural households have been measured and statistically analyzed using the large-scale sample survey data of CFPS2018 from the micro level.Third,three parts of the empirical analysis are carried out by using microdata: we use the logistic regression method to empirically test the overall effect and heterogeneous effect of non-cognitive skills on the relative poverty of rural households;use the multinomial Logic model and the KHB method to analyze the impact and mechanism of non-cognitive skills on livelihood strategy choice of rural households;use the propensity matching score method to analyze the impact of Livelihood Strategy Choice on relative poverty of rural households,and then use the improved three-step intermediary regression method and KHB method to verify the intermediary effect of livelihood strategy choice between non-cognitive skills and relative poverty of rural households.Fourth,based on the theoretical analysis and empirical research,the research conclusions of the full text are extracted,and the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward.Based on the above analysis,the main findings of this study are as follows:First,the relative poverty incidence and multidimensional relative poverty index of farmers are the largest in the western region,and the relative poverty intensity is the largest in the eastern region.In the full sample data obtained after data processing of cfps2018,the incidence of income relative poverty and multidimensional relative poverty are 26.91% and25.31%,and the multidimensional relative poverty index is 3.68%.From the perspective of different regions,the incidence of relative poverty and the multi-dimensional relative poverty index in the western region are the largest,followed by the central region and the eastern region,indicating that the western region has the most extensive coverage of poverty,the greatest degree of poverty,and more difficult poverty alleviation;The relative poverty intensity is the eastern region,the western region and the central region in order of magnitude,indicating that although the relative poverty coverage in the eastern region is not large,the internal welfare gap between the relatively poor groups is large.Second,low quality of life,poor health and lack of assets are important manifestations of multidimensional relative poverty of rural households.In the full sample data,the contribution rate to relative poverty is the quality of life,health,assets,education,psychology and employment in order of magnitude.It shows that farmers’ quality of life,health and assets are lower than the social average,which is the main manifestation of relative poverty.From the perspective of different regions,the three dimensions that contribute the most to relative poverty are quality of life,health,and assets in the eastern,central,and western regions.Third,improving non-cognitive skills can significantly alleviate the relative poverty of rural households,and the effect of poverty reduction is heterogeneous by regions,urban and rural areas,and cultural levels.The findings show that for every 1% increase in noncognitive skills,the probability of falling into income relative poverty decreases by 0.475%,and the probability of falling into multidimensional relative poverty decreases by 0.570%,indicating that rural households with more aggressive,stronger social ability and more stable emotion have a lower probability of falling into relative poverty.Further analysis shows that each dimension of non-cognitive skills has a significant negative impact on the multidimensional relative poverty of rural households.According to the degree of influence,they are emotional stability,positive self,and social ability.Through the heterogeneity study,it is found that non-cognitive skills have a greater role in alleviating the two types of the relative poverty of low-educated rural households,a greater role in alleviating the income relative poverty of rural households living in rural areas,and a greater role in alleviating the multidimensional relative poverty of rural households living in cities.Fourth,improving non-cognitive skills can significantly optimize the livelihood strategies of rural households.The results of empirical research show that Compared with full-farm strategy,rural households with strong non-cognitive skills are more inclined to choose off-farm employment strategy and concurrent employment strategy,meanwhile,Human capital and social capital have significant mediating effects between non-cognitive skills and two livelihood strategies of rural households,and the mediating effect of human capital is greater than that of social capital.Among them,the mediating variable has a complete mediating effect on the impact of non-cognitive skills on the off-farm employment strategy of rural households and has a partial mediating effect on the impact of the concurrent employment strategy of rural households.Fifth,the choice of livelihood strategy significantly affects the relative poverty of rural households and has a significant mediating effect on non-cognitive skills and the relative poverty of rural households.The results of the study found that compared with the full-farm strategy,off-farm employment strategy and concurrent employment strategy can alleviate income relative poverty and multi-dimensional relative poverty of rural households,and have a greater impact on income relative poverty.This means that stable employment opportunities and better livelihood strategies are essential for rural households to alleviate relative poverty.By analyzing the influence mechanism of non-cognitive skills on the relative poverty of rural households,it is found that off-farm employment strategy and concurrent employment strategy both have partial mediating effects between non-cognitive skills and the relative poverty of rural households.and the mediating effects of concurrent employment strategy in these two impact paths are greater.Based on the findings of this study,the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward following the idea of "empowerment-energy increase-path" :First,optimize the top-level design of relative poverty governance and build a policy guarantee system.The government should build a mechanism for identifying and exiting the relative poverty of rural households,and do a good job in dynamic monitoring;build a multigovernance mechanism of the relative poverty of “government-led,market-based,social participation and farmers as the main body” to achieve coordinated linkage among the three parties;promote institutional empowerment and fully protect the development rights of farmers.Second,strengthen the non-cognitive skills of farmers,and build an endogenous driving mechanism of multi-body cooperation.The improvement of non-cognitive skills needs the joint efforts of the government,society,schools,and families: the government should attach importance to the cultivation of farmers’ non-cognitive skills,and stimulate their endogenous motivation by giving play to the leading role of the community,encouraging farmers to participate in social activities and carrying out non-cognitive skills training;Schools should not only reform education methods,strengthen non-cognitive skills education through curriculum setting and teaching evaluation,but also pay attention to students’ mental health education and counseling;Social organizations should provide psychological services to enhance the confidence and emotional adjustment ability of farmers to get rid of poverty and become rich;Farmers should actively participate in government training and poverty alleviation projects,and pay attention to the cultivation of non-cognitive skills of family members.Third,from the perspective of supply and demand,optimize the livelihood strategies of rural households to alleviate relative poverty.Policy design based on the demand,supply,and matching of the labor force: the government should develop characteristic industries according to local conditions to provide non-agricultural employment for rural households;Carry out non-agricultural employment training to improve the self-development ability of poor households;build an employment service platform to accelerate the matching of rural labor supply and demand.The innovations of this study are reflected in the following aspects:First,the influencing factors of relative poverty alleviation in rural households are studied from the perspective of the endogenous power of non-cognitive skills,the key to solving the problem of relative poverty in rural households is to stimulate the endogenous motivation of farmers.Most of the existing studies have explored the endogenous motivation factors of farmers’ relative poverty alleviation from the theoretical perspective.A few scholars have verified that human capital such as education and health is the endogenous motivation of farmers’ relative poverty from the empirical perspective,but they have not separated non-cognitive skills from traditional human capital,overestimating the poverty reduction role of traditional human capital.According to the new human capital theory,noncognitive skills are the pre-variable of education human capital and health human capital,and are the more fundamental endogenous power.Therefore,this study uses non-cognitive skills as the endogenous power to solve the problem and provides some reference for the government to govern relative poverty.Second,the theoretical analysis framework of "non-cognitive skills-livelihood strategy choice-relative poverty of households" is constructed.According to the sustainable livelihood theory,human capital and social capital represent the ability and opportunity of individual livelihood choice respectively and can affect the livelihood results of farmers through the choice of livelihood strategies.The new human capital theory believes that noncognitive skills have an important impact on human capital and social capital.Therefore,this study uses the new human capital theory to expand the sustainable livelihood framework for farmers to alleviate relative poverty from the perspective of endogenous dynamics,and empirically tests the intermediary effect of livelihood strategy choices in non-cognitive skills and relative poverty.Third,building the index system of non-cognitive skills of rural households is a beneficial expansion and supplement to the new human capital theory.The existing literature mostly uses the big five personality scale to measure non-cognitive skills,but the big five personalities is a stable and lasting behavioral tendency and psychological characteristic,which can not measure the ability that can be changed through education or training,valued by economists,and it lacks theoretical explanation with economic significance.Based on the new human capital theory,this study comprehensively considers the realistic background of relative poverty governance,the behavior characteristics of rural households,and the intuitiveness of theoretical explanation to build an index system of non-cognitive skills of rural households,which are defined and measured by three dimensions: positive self,social skills,and emotional stability.It is a useful supplement to the new human capital theory. |
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