The Impact of Social Capital on Multidimensional Poverty of Rural Households in China

Getting rid of multidimensional poverty is both the people’s wish and the direction of governance. Based on 2018 China Household Tracking Survey (CFPS) data, this paper identifies household multidimensional poverty in rural areas using a combination of the MPI index and the A-F method. The relationship between social capital and multidimensional poverty was also empirically analyzed using a Logit model. The results showed that: (1) 1599 multidimensional poverty households were identified, the incidence of multidimensional poverty was 24.94%, and the multidimensional poverty index was 0.103. In terms of poverty incidence, the three highest indicators of poverty incidence are adult education, health, and chronic diseases, reaching 42.06%, 37.65%, and 29.90%, respectively, and mainly concentrated in the education and health care systems. (2) Social capital can significantly reduce the probability of multidimensional poverty in rural households. Among them, social network significantly and negatively affects the occurrence of multidimensional poverty in rural households, social trust in neighbors has a significant negative effect on multidimensional poverty in rural households at the 1% level, and social prestige is positively related to multidimensional poverty in rural households. (3) Age of household head, household size, and income from working outside the home are significantly associated with multidimensional poverty in rural households. This paper expands the scope of social capital theory research and provides new perspectives and empirical evidence for alleviating multidimensional poverty.