With the data of the special survey on re-settlers livelihood in three gorges reservoir area， this article makes an empirical test of the changes of re-settlers’ livelihood capital and the impact of re-settlers’ self-motivated effort and government support on livelihood capital by using OLS， PSM and quantile regression models.The results show that involuntary resettlement of the Three Gorges hydropower project significantly reduces re-settlers’ livelihood capital and the negative impact of livelihood capital of re-settlers’ resettled outward is greater than that of re-settlers’ resettled locally. Both the level of effort and government support can significantly increase re-settlers’ livelihood capital， yet the re-settlers’ yield of livelihood capital supported by the government is significantly lower than that of the natives. The yield of livelihood capital from efforts does not differ significantly between re-settlers and natives， and this results holds when resettlement mode is introduced during the process. Further research also finds that with the increase of livelihood capital quantile， the effect of self-motivated effort and government support on the improvement of livelihood capital of re-settlers shows a increasing trend， which will widen the livelihood capital gap among re-settlers.Therefore， it is suggested to improve an evaluation system for the recovery and development of livelihood capital according to different reference groups， to establish the coordinated promotion path of self-motivated and government support， and to speed up the reduction of livelihood capital gaps within re-settlers groups.