社會保障是一種公共財（public goods）的提供，本文分析中國大陸農村提供這項公共財背後的政治邏輯。當人民公社在八○年代初期解體後，鄉鎮單位就不再擔任積極的角色，村幹部必須各顯神通解決各自的難題，其中就包括提供社會保障的制度。本文主要的研究假設源自社會權利理論（citizenship and social right theory）中民主促進論（democracy promotion）的看法。隨著中國大陸基層選舉的落實，有效提升人民基本的公民權利意識，引發村民開始追求社會保障制度的落實。因此，基層選舉持續的推動，將成為落實社會保障制度主要的機制之一。透過2007至2008年「亞洲民主動態調查」（Asian Barometer Surveys）計畫，在中國大陸356個農村所蒐集的總體資料，統計結果完全符合上述的假設，亦即基層選舉實施比較成功的農村，在農村社會保障供給的完整性也比較好。即使控制其他重要因素，例如現代化程度的指標，以及與非正式制度有關的指標，基層選舉的解釋力仍是最顯著的因素。

Social welfare is concerned with the provision of a public good. This paper is concerned with the political logic behind the provision of this public good. It uses empirical data to evaluate the functionalist view in modernization theory, the democracy promotion view in citizenship and social rights theory, and finally the more recent non-institutionalist social capital view. Each of these three theories is concerned with revealing the motivation behind the provision of social welfare. This paper uses data gathered by the 2007-2008 Asian Barometer Survey in 356 villages across China, and attempts to show that there is a positive relationship between grassroots democracy and the provision of social welfare. The exercise of rural democracy helps raise awareness of the rights of individuals, and therefore helps draw greater attention to redistribution through the mechanism of social welfare provision. The statistical results show that in villages that have had a more successful experience of grassroots democracy, the provision of social welfare has been more comprehensive. Adding the social capital variable increases the explanatory power of the whole model, but the influence of local elections remains strong, and continues to have more explanatory power than the social capital variable. Even when we control for the level of economic development, regional differences, and level of education, the influence of local democracy on rural welfare provision remains powerful.