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The Chinese government has recently expanded the scope of urban social insurance programmes. However, social protection for the labour force of the urban informal sector, which reaches about half the number of urban workers, lags significantly behind. This under-coverage may be due to institutional constraints, particularly the household registration system hukou, and self-selection behaviour related to the limited benefits of social insurance. Drawing on a recent nationwide individual-level survey and city-level statistics, this study examines these two explanations for the under-enrolment on the social insurance programme. First, results suggest that hukou and the intergovernmental fiscal system are major institutional constraints. Second, self-selection behaviour in programme enrolment is verified. Employers in the informal sector are likely to opt out of social insurance. More importantly, employers in the informal sector, with rural or non-local hukou, are likely to opt out of social insurance, which suggests that self-selection behaviour is constrained by institutions. Such findings have important implications for broad theoretical and policy debates on universal social protection.

China has adopted purchase of services to facilitate the development of the societal sector, including social organisations, the social work profession and social services. Project-based and post-based purchases are two typical policy designs. Why do the local states develop two different designs to serve similar intentions? The answers to this question contribute to the broader discussion of policymaking and social development in China. Using the intention-capacity analytic framework, this study systemically compares Guangzhou's project-based model and Shenzhen's post-based model by drawing upon an extensive review of policy and archive documents, key informant interviews and field observations. The comparative study suggests that a pro-market ideology and incomplete analytical capacity in policy learning directed the design thinking towards market mechanism and purchase of services. Without the organisational conditions of social organisation and social work in Guangzhou, rapid growth in the social work workforce became the top priority in Shenzhen. Meanwhile, the trustworthiness of newly developing social organisations is another concern. All of these concerns underpinned the post-based design. Both models, with substantial fiscal support, succeed in expanding the societal sectors. But the mix of market and hierarchy tools, for the post-based model in particular, is an obstacle in further enabling social organisation and the social work profession.

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