Prof. Liu Junqiang (right) from Sun Yat-sen University was invited to hold a public lecture entitled 'Transferring from the Poor to the Rich: Examining the Regressive Redistribution in Social Insurance and the Political Pecking Order of Welfare Reform in China' on 16 September at United College.

Professor Liu explained the phenomenon and causes of distorted distributional outcome in retirement, health care, unemployment insurance, etc. Risks and protection are mismatched in China. Benefits and protection accrue for the privileged, while high-risk groups are inadequately protected. For marginal groups, the government retreats from its limited role, making social protection mainly an individual responsibility, i.e. retrenchment strategy. As social policy continues to spread in developing countries, China's case illustrates that social programmes may reinforce (even exacerbate) existing disparities, rather than helping to realize progressive redistribution, risk management, and social inclusion. Professor Liu analysed and commented on the outcome.