The Effect of the Housing Provident Fund on Income Redistribution: The Case of China

Long-term collective saving schemes are widely adopted in many emerging economies to support residents' housing consumption. This article evaluates the effect of the Housing Provident Fund (HPF), one of the most prominent housing policies in China, on income redistribution beyond its housing support role. Based on micro survey data, our results suggest that the current HPF policy design widens the income gap between HPF participants and nonparticipants and aggravates income inequality across the whole population; further simulation results suggest that expanding HPF coverage has an alleviating effect. However, in the event of housing purchases through HPF loans, lower income participants can leverage more benefits, and the floor-and-ceiling policy design decreases the marginal benefits for higher income participants, resulting in mitigated income inequality among HPF participants. One notable risk of the HPF's widening of the income gap among participants is the unavailability of HPF loans for low-income participants. Our findings indicate that optimizing the HPF system might be a better option than its abolishment, from the perspective of its income redistribution function. We also provide some valuable recommendations for gradual future reform of the HPF.