ABSTRACT
Before delving into an analysis of the causes of poverty, this chapter offers an analytical framework. First, poverty is a familial phenomenon, not an isolated individual phenomenon. Second, for families, the inability to obtain adequate resources for subsistence and development is the most direct cause of poverty. The health of the labour force constitutes an essential component of human capital, and a factor influencing the incidence of poverty. The traditional theory of poverty construes poverty as a state in which income is not enough to satisfy a family's minimum needs for bare subsistence. For many years, when the Chinese people lacked adequate food and clothing, the rural poverty line was designed to capture the basic need for food for the sake of bare subsistence, while taking into account other needs for basic consumer goods. To alleviate urban poverty incurred by factors such as unemployment, limited education and poor health, the social security and public services system must be fully functional.
