Recently, Wang Zhonghua, a researcher at the Center for International Cooperation and Disciplinary Innovation of Income Distribution and Public Finance under the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, officially published a co-authored paper, "The Progressive Nature, Ranking Change and Income Distribution Effects of Social Security Expenditure", in Issue 3 (2026) of the top-tier domestic journal Economic Research Journal. She serves as the corresponding author of the study, and her collaborators include Si Linga from Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics and Renmin University of China and Bai Yanfeng from Central University of Finance and Economics.
Highlights:
As both a safety net for people's livelihood and a regulator of income distribution, social security expenditure plays a crucial role in maintaining the stable functioning of the economy and society. However, there is still no consensus among existing studies on whether social security expenditure in China can effectively narrow the income gap among residents. Utilizing data from the 2023 Chinese Household Income Project and a unified analytical framework for redistribution effects, this paper systematically assesses the progressive nature and ranking change effect of social security expenditure, offering new perspectives and empirical evidence to inform related debates. The study shows the following findings: First, social security expenditure in China is generally conducive to narrowing the income gap among residents, but its progressive nature depends on the choice of the income reference benchmark. If pre-transfer income is used as the reference benchmark, social security expenditure is progressive; if post-transfer income is used, social security expenditure becomes regressive. Second, the change in ranking is key to understanding the differences in progressivity described above. Social security expenditure significantly alters the income ranking of residents, making the identification of low-income groups more sensitive to the choice of reference benchmark. Third, disparities in benefits among basic pension insurance schemes are a major driver of these changes in income ranking. This study is of considerable policy significance for accelerating the development of a fair and unified social security system, enhancing the redistributive function of the schemes, and achieving the goal of common prosperity.
About the Author:
Wang Zhonghua is a lecturer at the School of Public Finance and Taxation, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, a researcher at the Center for International Cooperation and Disciplinary Innovation of Income Distribution and Public Finance under the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and a Ph.D. in Economics. Her primary research areas are income distribution and social security. Her research findings have been published in journals such as Economic Research Journal and China Industrial Economics. She has led projects supported by the Youth Program of the National Social Science Fund of China and the Third National Time Use Survey by the National Bureau of Statistics, among others.