%0 Journal Article
%T A new welfare regime in the making? Paternalistic welfare pragmatism in China
%A Jiwei Qian
%A Ka Ho Mok
%J Journal of European Social Policy
%@ 1461-7269
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0958928718767603
%X Since 2003, the Chinese government has been increasing its social expenditure and initiated new social welfare programmes to provide universal social protection and meet citizens¡¯ welfare needs. This article uses the wider socio-economic and socio-political contexts to critically examine whether there is a new welfare regime on the rise in China, with a particular reference to whether the increase in social expenditure has really marked a new welfare philosophy or prompted the transformation of China into a protective welfare regime. By analysing prefecture-level data for government expenditures in education, health, social security and assistance programmes between 2003 and 2012, we show a continuation of the Chinese welfare regime in ¡®paternalistic welfare pragmatism¡¯ for two reasons. First, government social expenditures are set on the basis of the prefecture-level government¡¯s fiscal capacity. Second, variations of welfare programmes are associated with the dichotomy between the urban formal and informal sectors
%K China
%K informal sector
%K inter-governmental relation
%K paternalistic welfare pragmatism
%K social policy
%K welfare regime
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0958928718767603