From survival to development: asymmetric effects of poverty alleviation relocation on household multidimensional poverty—evidence from mountainous western China

Abstract

Relocation is widely adopted as a poverty reduction strategy, yet how its effects extend from basic survival to sustained household development remains insufficiently understood. Building on a distinction between survival- and development-related poverty, this study evaluates the impact of poverty alleviation relocation on household multidimensional poverty. Using household survey data from an early pilot region of China's Poverty Alleviation Relocation Program (PARP) and the control function approach, we find that PARP significantly reduces survival poverty, but its effect on developmental poverty is not statistically significant. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effects of PARP do not differ significantly across relocation strategies, whereas its effects vary with household endowments and resource bases across poverty dimensions. The mechanism analysis further shows that PARP affects household multidimensional poverty partly through changes in household livelihood strategies: the reduction in agricultural participation following relocation partially offsets the poverty-reducing effects of PARP on both survival and developmental poverty, while the reallocation of household labor to external labor markets provides an indirect pathway through which PARP reduces developmental poverty. Moreover, government subsidies strengthen the poverty-reducing effect of PARP on survival poverty, whereas training strengthens its effect on developmental poverty. Our findings highlight the distinct effects of relocation across survival and developmental poverty and provide empirical evidence for tailoring stage-specific interventions to help relocated households move beyond improved living conditions toward sustained development.