Abstract:

The reform of China's state-owned enterprises during the 1990s resulted in large numbers of workers being laid off, giving rise to a phenomenon of "new urban poverty" primarily affecting laid-off workers and their families. In response, the Chinese government immediately moved to vigorously expand the urban social security system. Existing studies have mainly focused on the poverty reduction effects of social security policies on the generation of laid-off workers (the parent generation), while paying insufficient attention to their impact on the growth and developmental outcomes of the offspring generation, particularly with regard to the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Against this backdrop, this study uses data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey(1989-2015) to examine the intergenerational poverty reduction effects of social security policies on laid-off families. The findings indicate that pension insurance policies within the social security system do not exhibit significant intergenerational poverty reduction effects. In contrast, medical insurance, as well as cash transfer programs such as social assistance and social welfare, can enhance the intergenerational investment capacity of impoverished laid-off families. Specifically, these policies mitigate the intergenerational transmission of poverty by exerting a buffering effect through pathways of investment in family upbringing and a developmental effect through pathways of school education investment. Furthermore, the effectiveness of such interventions is moderated by parental cultural capital. That is, the policy effects of social security policies in promoting intergenerational investment are more pronounced in families with higher levels of parental cultural capital. In addition, the impact of social security policies on the intergenerational transmission of poverty among laid-off families varies. The intergenerational poverty reduction effects are more evident among families where the mother was laid off, those laid off before 2004, and those in central China. Accordingly, future research and policy practice should pay closer attention to the interaction between policy interventions and family dynamics, with an emphasis on stimulating the internal motivation of impoverished families, thereby better leveraging the intergenerational poverty reduction effects of external policy interventions.

Key words: social security, intergenerational transmission of poverty, poverty reduction, state-owned enterprise reform, laid-off workers