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The impact of social pensions on intergenerational relationships: Comparative evidence from China

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  • Chen, Xi
  • Eggleston, Karen
  • Sun, Ang

Abstract

China launched a new rural pension scheme (hereafter NRPS) for rural residents in 2009, now covering almost all counties with over 400million people enrolled. This implementation of the largest social pension program in the world offers a unique setting for studying the economics of intergenerational relationships during development, given the rapidity of China’s population aging, traditions of filial piety and co-residence, decreasing number of children, and dearth of formal social security, at a relatively low income level. We draw on rich household surveys from two provinces at distinct development stages – impoverished Guizhou and relatively well-off Shandong – to better understand heterogeneity in the impact of pension benefits. Employing a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, we find that around the pension eligibility age cut-off, the NRPS significantly reduces intergenerational co-residence, especially between elderly parents and their adults sons; promotes pensioners’ healthcare service consumption; and weakens (but does not supplant) non-pecuniary and pecuniary transfers across three generations. These effects are much larger in less developed Guizhou province.

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  • Chen, Xi & Eggleston, Karen & Sun, Ang, 2018. "The impact of social pensions on intergenerational relationships: Comparative evidence from China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 225-235.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecag:v:12:y:2018:i:c:p:225-235
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2017.04.001
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    Cited by:

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    4. Bradley, Elizabeth & Chen, Xi & Tang, Gaojie, 2020. "Social security expansion and neighborhood cohesion: Evidence from community-living older adults in China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
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    6. Chen, Xi & Wang, Tianyu & Busch, Susan H., 2019. "Does money relieve depression? Evidence from social pension expansions in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 411-420.
    7. Yuqiao Zhang & Daqian Liu, 2023. "Assessment of Socio-Economic Adaptability to Ageing in Resource-Based Cities and Its Obstacle Factor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-22, August.
    8. Fang Wang & Haitao Zheng, 2021. "Do Public Pensions Improve Mental Wellbeing? Evidence from the New Rural Society Pension Insurance Program," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-14, March.
    9. Myerson, Rebecca & Lu, Tianyi & Yuan, Yong & Liu, Gordon, 2020. "The impact of government income transfers on tobacco and alcohol use: Evidence from China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    10. Qingen Gai & Naijia Guo & Bingjing Li & Qinghua Shi & Xiaodong Zhu, 2021. "Migration Costs, Sorting, and the Agricultural Productivity Gap," Working Papers tecipa-693, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    11. Zhaohua Zhang & Yuxi Luo & Derrick Robinson, 2018. "Reducing Food Poverty and Vulnerability among the Rural Elderly with Chronic Diseases: The Role of the New Rural Pension Scheme in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-20, June.
    12. Hanming Fang & Jin Feng, 2018. "The Chinese Pension System," NBER Working Papers 25088, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Xin Gao & Tieying Feng, 2020. "Public Pension, Labor Force Participation, and Depressive Symptoms across Gender among Older Adults in Rural China: A Moderated Mediation Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-13, May.
    14. Emma Aguila & Jung Ho Park & Alma Vega, 2020. "Living Arrangements and Supplemental Income Programs for Older Adults in Mexico," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1345-1368, August.
    15. Simiao Chen & Zhangfeng Jin & Klaus Prettner, 2023. "Can I live with you after I retire? Retirement, old age support and internal migration in a developing country," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(3), pages 964-988, August.
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    17. Yang, Jinyang & Chen, Xi, 2022. "Grandfathers and Grandsons: Social Security Expansion and Child Health in China," IZA Discussion Papers 15239, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Zuojuan Li & Guofeng Li & Ke Zhang & Jingxin Zhu, 2022. "Do Social Pension and Family Support Affect Farmers’ Land Transfer? Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-14, March.
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    20. Zhaohua Zhang & Yuxi Luo & Derrick Robinson, 2019. "Who Are the Beneficiaries of China’s New Rural Pension Scheme? Sons, Daughters, or Parents?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-16, August.
    21. Zhaohua Zhang & Yuxi Luo & Derrick Robinson, 2020. "Do Social Pensions Help People Living on the Edge? Assessing Determinants of Vulnerability to Food Poverty Among the Rural Elderly," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(1), pages 198-219, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social pensions; Intergenerational relationships; Regional comparisons; Co-residence; Old-age care; Service consumption; Transfers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy

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