Conference: Expanding Social Policy in China
About the Conference
The Chinese government has set ambitious goals in expanding social policy in its 13th five-year plan, with a particular focus on six domains: health, education, housing, pensions, disability, and poverty alleviation. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in October 2017 reiterated these goals, with a specific emphasis to address the growing tension between “unbalanced and inadequate development and people’s ever-growing needs for a better life.” Against this backdrop, the China Center for Social Policy will host an all-day conference on “Expanding Social Policy in China” on March 21, 2018, at Columbia University in New York City. The conference is co-sponsored by the Columbia School of Social Work, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, the Confucius Institute, and the China Institute for Income Distribution at Beijing Normal University.
The conference will invite leading social policy scholars and practitioners from around the world to come together and hold a dialogue on four themes: 1) recent trends and developments in social policy in China; 2) poverty, inequality, and public policies; 3) child development and well-being; and 4) future directions of social policy in China, taking into consideration the influences of political, economic, cultural, and other factors. The conference is free and open to the public.
Register Here
9:00 – 9:20 a.m.: Opening Remarks
Qin Gao, Director, China Center for Social Policy, Columbia University
Xiaobo Lü, Acting Director, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
9:20 – 10:50 a.m.: Session 1
Expanding Social Policy in China: Recent Trends and Developments
Chair: Jane Duckett (University of Glasgow)
Wang Feng (UC-Irvine)
Expansion of Public Transfers in China: Who are the Beneficiaries?
Xian Huang (Rutgers University)
When Top-Down Meets Bottom-Up: Local Adoption of Social Policy Reform in China
Qin Gao (Columbia University)
China's War on Poverty: Will It Succeed?
Discussant: Mark Frazier (New School University)
10:50 – 11:10 a.m.: Coffee/Tea Break
11:10 a.m. – 12:50 p.m. : Session 2
Poverty, Inequality & Public Policies
Chair: George Hong (Fordham University)
Juan Yang (Beijing Normal University)
The Impact of Education Expansion on Wage Inequality in China
Quheng Deng (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
Educational Assortative Mating and Income Inequality in Urban China
Sui Yang (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
The Effects of Rural Dibao on Poverty Reduction
Yanxia Zhang (China Agricultural University)
Aging Challenge and Care Crisis in Rural China
Discussant: Chris Wimer (Columbia University)
12:50 – 2:00 p.m.: Lunch Break
2:00 – 3:40 p.m.: Session 3
Child Development and Well-being
Chair: Sarah Jessup (Children of China Pediatrics Foundation)
Emily Hannum (University of Pennsylvania)
Estimating the Effects of Educational System Contraction: The Case of China’s Rural School Merger Initiative.
Yao Lu (Columbia University)
Migration and Children’s Psychological and Cognitive Development in China: New Evidence from a National Survey
Karen Fisher (University of New South Wales, Sydney)
Changes to State Child Welfare Institutions in Response to Mixed Welfare Expectations
Jillian Popkins (UNICEF China)
Essential Basic Services for Early Child Development: Challenges and Opportunities
Discussant: Bruce Bradbury (University of New South Wales, Sydney
3:40 – 4:00 p.m.: Coffee/Tea Break
4:00 – 5:40 p.m.: Session 4
Roundtable on the Future of Chinese Social Policy
Chair: Andrew Nathan (Columbia University)
Chuliang Luo (Beijing Normal University)
Public Policies to Address Inequality in China: What’s Expected to Happen?
Dorothy Solinger (UC-Irvine)
Fighting Urban Poverty: Extrapolating the Future from Chinese Politics and Views of the Indigent
Jinyu Liu (Columbia University)
Expanding Elder Care Services in China
Bin Xu (Emory University)
Civil Society and Civic Engagement: Reflections and Policy Implications
Tobias ten Brink (Jacobs University Bremen, Germany)
Global Social Policy Dynamics and China: A Research Agenda
Discussant: Carl Riskin (Columbia University and CUNY Queens College)
5:40 – 6:00 p.m.: Concluding Remarks
Qin Gao, Director, China Center for Social Policy, Columbia University
Irwin Garfinkel, Interim Dean, Columbia School of Social Work
Bruce Bradbury, University of New South Wales, Sydney
Quheng Deng, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Jane Duckett, University of Glasgow
Karen Fisher, University of New South Wales – Sydney
Mark Frazier, New School University
Qin Gao, Columbia University
Mary Gallagher, University of Michigan
Irwin Garfinkel, Columbia University
Huawei Han, Beijing Normal University
Emily Hannum, University of Pennsylvania
George Hong, Fordham University
Xian Huang, Rutgers University
Sara Jessup, Children of China Pediatrics Foundation
Jinyu Liu, Columbia University
Yao Lu, Columbia University
Xiaobo Lü, Columbia University
Chuliang Luo, Beijing Normal University
Andrew Nathan, Columbia University
Carl Riskin, Columbia University
Dorothy Solinger, UC-Irvine
Matthias Stepan, MERICS
Tobias ten Brink, Jacobs University Bremen
Wang Feng, UC-Irvine
Yake Wang, University of International Business and Economics
Chris Wimer, Columbia University
Bin Xu, Emory University
Juan Yang, Beijing Normal University
Sui Yang, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Yanxia Zhang, China Agricultural University
