IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v240y2025ics0167268125004615.html

Old age allowances and cognitive function: A quasi-experimental study of China's oldest-old

Author

Listed:
  • Fang, Guanfu
  • Tang, Tianyu

Abstract

The population aged 80 and above (the oldest-old) represents the fastest-growing age group globally and has the greatest need for maintaining cognitive health. This paper investigates the causal impact of old age allowances on cognitive function among China's oldest-old. Exploiting a regression discontinuity design around old age allowance eligibility thresholds, we demonstrate that these allowances significantly enhance cognitive function. Our empirical analysis indicates that increased healthcare utilization and improvements in physical health are unlikely to be the primary mechanisms. We provide some evidence for the mechanisms that old age allowances increase food consumption, reduce labor participation, expand social engagement, strengthen personal relationships, and alleviate depressive symptoms.

Suggested Citation

  • Fang, Guanfu & Tang, Tianyu, 2025. "Old age allowances and cognitive function: A quasi-experimental study of China's oldest-old," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:240:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125004615
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107344
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268125004615
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107344?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:240:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125004615. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.