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The Power of Social Pensions

Author

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  • Huang, Wei

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Zhang, Chuanchuan

    (Central University of Finance and Economics)

Abstract

This paper examines the impacts of social pension provision among people of different ages. Utilizing the county-by-county rollout of the New Rural Pension Scheme in rural China, we find that, among the age-eligible people, the scheme provision leads to higher household income (18 percent) and food expenditure (10 percent), lower labor supply (6 percent), and better health (11-14 percent). In addition, among the age-ineligible adults, the pension scheme shifts them from farming to non-farming work, lowers insurance participation rate, but does not change income, expenditure or health significantly. Finally, among the children aged below 15, the pension scheme leads to more pocket money received, more caring from grandparents, improved health, and higher schooling rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Wei & Zhang, Chuanchuan, 2016. "The Power of Social Pensions," IZA Discussion Papers 10425, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10425
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    Cited by:

    1. Juan Carlos Caro & Marcela Parada‐Contzen, 2022. "Pension Incentives and Retirement Planning in Rural China: Evidence for the New Rural Pension Scheme," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 60(1), pages 3-29, March.
    2. Pengjun Chen & Lunhui Shang, 2021. "Does Reduction of Contribution Rate Affect the Sustainability of China’s Basic Endowment Insurance Fund?—Based on the Background of National Pooling and Collection Responsibility Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-13, August.
    3. Jäger, Philipp, 2019. "The introduction of social pensions and elderly mortality: Evidence 1870-1939," Ruhr Economic Papers 808, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    4. Christine Ho, 2019. "Child’s gender, parental monetary investments and care of elderly parents in China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 741-774, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Yang, Jinyang & Bazan Ruiz, Muchin I.A, 2021. "Are pilot experiments random? Social connections and policy expansion in China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    7. Conglong Fang & Qingen Gai & Chaofei He & Qinghua Shi, 2020. "The Experience of Poverty Reduction in Rural China," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    8. Chuanchuan Zhang, 2019. "Family support or social support? The role of clan culture," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 529-549, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    pension; health; elderly;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • O22 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Project Analysis

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