Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures 1. Introduction 2. Background, Inception, and Development 3. Thresholds, Financing, and Beneficiaries 4. Targeting Performance 5. Anti-Poverty Effectiveness 6. From Welfare to Work 7. Family Expenditures and Human Capital Investment 8. Social Participation and Subjective Well-being 9. What Next? Policy Solutions and Research Directions References Acknowledgements

"Qin Gao, a leading scholar of Chinese social welfare and public policy, asks and answers systematically all the basic and important questions about the development of this social welfare program from the ashes of the socialist planned economy: from program development, implementation, to its performance, as judged by its anti-poverty and welfare-to-work effects, and to the receptions of program participants. With references to experiences in other parts of the world, Gao also makes a series of insightful policy and research recommendations in the concluding chapter of the book." -- Journal of Chinese Political Science "This volume will be celebrated as the definitive study to date on the Chinese program of social assistance. It is outstanding in its methodological rigor, stellar clarity, and telling insights. It asks questions of the data creatively and reaches findings that are illuminating and authoritative. The field of social policy is privileged to have this work!" - Dorothy J. Solinger, PhD, Professor Emerita of Political Science, University of California, Irvine "Dibao is the world's largest public assistance program. Welfare, Work, and Poverty by Professor Qin Gao describes how the program works, analyzes how well it works, and considers ways to improve it. It takes account of Chinese and English research, blends quantitative and qualitative research in a reader-friendly manner, and situates the Chinese welfare state in the global comparative welfare state literature." - Irwin Garfinkel, PhD, Mitchell I. Ginsberg Professor of Contemporary Urban Problems, School of Social Work, Columbia University "This book exemplifies all of the best attributes of social policy analysis, combining a thorough understanding of the history and core values of Chinese society with rigorous analysis of the design and impact of the cornerstone of its social assistance system - the Minimum Livelihood Guarantee (Dibao) program. Qin Gao's authoritative book is highly recommended reading for scholars and policymakers interested to find out more about the past, present, and future of one of the world's largest and rapidly growing social programs." - Peter Saunders, PhD, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia "Qin Gao comprehensively assesses China's means-tested social assistance, or 'Dibao,' programme. This is an important and timely synthesis of what is known, and a must-read for everyone interested in welfare, work, and poverty in China." - Jane Duckett, PhD FBA, Edward Caird Chair of Politics; International Dean (East Asia); Director, Scottish Centre for China Research, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK "Welfare, Work, and Poverty offers a definitive text on the largest social assistance program in the world. With her commanding knowledge of the Chinese social welfare system and her masterful skills in synthesizing a wide body of evidence and literature, Qin Gao assesses the effectiveness of China's Minimum Livelihood Guarantee (Dibao) program. The results in the book are sobering, not all that encouraging, and the policy suggestions she offers are concrete and enlightening. This book is a standard reference for understanding Chinese social welfare regime and a singular contribution to the comparative research of global social welfare development." - Feng Wang, PhD, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, and Fudan University, China "This book is highly recommended to those who are interested in present-day China, particularly its social policy. It tells the story of how Dibao was developed in the 1990s as China's market reform left the urban poor behind. Based partly on the author's high quality research, the book summarizes what we know today about the various consequences of the system. Therefore, it is also highly recommended reading for those interested in how income social safety nets in other contexts work." Björn Gustafsson, PhD, Senior Professor, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Research Fellow, Institute of the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn, Germany "Despite China's widely-praised anti-poverty record, poverty is still a reality there and even takes new forms in the evolving market economy. Welfare, Work, and Poverty provides the most thorough description and evaluation to be found of China's main policy tool for combating poverty in cities and countryside, the Minimum Livelihood Guarantee program (Dibao). Qin Gao uses survey data as well as a variety of primary and secondary sources to delineate the workings of this program, identify its successes, and criticize its shortcomings in both targeting poor people and bringing effective help to them. Anyone interested in the anti-poverty effort in China can do no better than to consult Gao's fine study." - Carl Riskin, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Queens College, CUNY; Senior Research Scholar, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University "This is an excellent work on China's social assistance system with international perspective and solid knowledge of China's experiences. With the author's theoretical insights, this book gives us a comprehensive introduction to and in-depth analysis of China's social assistance system. This book will be very helpful for the international readers to understand the historical development and current characteristics of China's social assistance system and efforts to develop social protection system under the country's unique economic, political, and social background. At the same time, it will also be very helpful for Chinese scholars and policymakers to have more knowledge about the theories and methodology from international experts in the study of social policy in general and of social assistance specifically." - Xinping Guan, PhD, Professor, Department of Social Work & Social Policy, Nankai University, China

Selling point: Presents the first systematic and comprehensive evaluation of the world's largest social welfare program. Selling point: Adds the Chinese case to the rapidly growing international literature on comparative welfare studies. Selling point: Analyzes Dibao's impacts on multidimensional outcomes including targeting, poverty, consumption, work efforts, social participation, and subjective well-being.

Qin Gao, PhD, MPhil, MA, is Professor of Social Policy and Social Work at the Columbia University School of Social Work and a Faculty Affiliate of the Columbia Population Research Center and Weatherhead East Asian Institute. She is also an Academic Board Member of the China Institute for Income Distribution and Beijing Normal University, and a Public Intellectual Fellow of the National Committee on United States-China Relations. Dr. Gao's research examines poverty, income inequality, and social welfare policies and programs in China and their cross-national comparisons. Dr. Gao also studies gender inequality and soical protection for rural-to-urban migrants in China. She has published widely in leading interdisciplinary journals such as The China Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, Journal of Social Policy, Review of Income and Wealth, Social Service Review, and World Development.

Selling point: Presents the first systematic and comprehensive evaluation of the world's largest social welfare program. Selling point: Adds the Chinese case to the rapidly growing international literature on comparative welfare studies. Selling point: Analyzes Dibao's impacts on multidimensional outcomes including targeting, poverty, consumption, work efforts, social participation, and subjective well-being.