The Interplay of Poverty and Education: Investigating Causes, Impacts, and Outcomes (Case Study of China)

Avinash Indoria

Master's thesis

Abstract:

This thesis which is entitled “The Relationship Between Poverty and Education: Causes, Effects and Consequences (Case Study of China)” is a useful study which examines the connection between poverty and education with respect to China. The study focuses on the inequality condition found in urban and rural areas, internal migration, and institutional discrimination. This informs us of the impact of poverty on education in these areas. The study uses multiple regression analysis to examine the relationship between literacy and GDP, poverty, internal migration, income per capita, and Gini coefficient (measure of income inequality) for the years 2013 to 2022. The main objectives of the thesis are multifaceted. The first aim of the thesis is to investigate how poverty impacts access to and attainment of education in urban and rural China respectively. Next, it will find the reasons for poverty and the poverty causes internal migration inside the country. The third objective of the research is about the education as a possible means to break the cycle of poverty in China. The study is premised on the theory that poverty tends to lower the learning achievement in education, that the urban-rural gap in educational resources refers to significant differences in educational achievement, and that enhancing facilities and quality of education in poor community improves learning achievement and reduces poverty. The study mostly relies on OLS regression for smart econometric that may help find impact or elasticity of various factors of literacy. The data used are taken from particular government reports and economic databases. The most important findings were that poverty hampers education, the urban areas of the country have better resources than the rural areas, and higher literacy than the rural places. Living in the city gives students access to school resources. However, the flow of rural youth towards the city causes a break in their education. Processes like the hukou system refer to limiting a person’s geographic freedom. According to the study, literacy is negatively impacted by income inequality, while government education expenditure has a positive impact. An increase of one unit in the Gini coefficient reduces literacy by 0.494%. On the other hand, growing government expenditure on education by 1% increases literacy by 1.331%. China's success in preventing extreme poverty increased from 97.5% in 1978 to lower than 1% by 2020. Further, targeted policies; rural education upgrade; poverty alleviation programs were some of them. But still, there are large disparities in the western provinces, such as Guizhou and Yunnan. Education is very important in reducing poverty and increasing employment opportunities and earnings. Overall, the conclusion addresses the need to close this gap with a view to achieve overall development. The existing literature review studies the research work which is done on his issue. Research by Furceri and Ostry in 2019 and Hofmarcher in 2021 discusses the importance of income inequality and education in reducing poverty. Liu and others take a spatial econometric look at how education in rural areas affects poverty in China, suggesting that rural education policies must be tailored if they are to effectively fight poverty in China. The thesis also cites useful insights by Patel-Campillo and García (2022) on conditional cash transfers and higher education attainment to break out of poverty. To wrap up, this thesis highlights the links between poverty and education in China while bringing insights from Liu et al. (2023), Patel-Campillo and García (2002), which guides the project thesis further. The results and suggestions of the study will help those in charge of helping to avoid poverty and education. Future research can look at how poverty and education affects social mobility over the long-term. It can examine cultural and governance factors responsible for affecting education outcomes. Fin

Abstract:

ally, there can be comparative studies with other developing countries. The whole thesis is divided into many chapters which consist of different aspects of the research. Chapter 1 provides the overall outlook of the study, introduces China and its economic development performance, and indicates the poverty-education challenges. Chapter 2 discusses the aim of basic education of a poor child educating him and thus reducing the poverty level of families of poor children in China. Chapter 3 provides a literature review which covers the study done by others in this field. The empirical analysis in the ensuing chapters shows a regression model for treatment. This forms the foundation for the discussion based on poverty, internal migration, income inequality and government spending. The ending section of the thesis provides suggestions for policies that can be used to improve disparity present in the Chinese provinces. Some recommendations in the thesis are having additional funding for rural education, income inequality and more vocational training to fill gap’s. The overall phenomena here refers together to the entire essay, body, introduction, conclusion, abstracts plus references of the essay. It carries out research work non-empirical work thesis a report. The research stresses the need for continuous investment in educational infrastructure through strong policies to help marginalised communities to break the cycle of poverty through education.

Keywords

Poverty, Educational Access, Internal Migration, China, Government Education Spending, Income Inequality

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 28. 3. 2025

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 30. 5. 2025
• Supervisor: Ing. Jiří Mach, Ph.D.
• Reader: Šimon Dušek, externi

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Economics and Management

Master programme:
Economics and Management