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Do More Grandchildren Lead to Worse Health Status of Grandparents? Evidence from the China Health and Nutrition Survey

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Abstract

China is rapidly aging and the social security system provides insufficient pension coverage. Consequently, almost 80 percent of elderly people depend on their children or other relatives for financial support. We use China Health and Nutrition Survey data to test if more grandchildren adversely affects elder health. This could occur because grandparents and grandchildren compete for financial support from the working adults in a family and because grandparents often have to care for young grandchildren and may neglect their own health. Since the number of grandchildren is a choice variable, we use exogenous variation in fertility for two generations under local implementation of the one child policy. We also take advantage of the panel data to deal with unobservable factors. The health of the elderly appears to be adversely affected by the number of grandchildren, especially for grandmothers and especially in urban areas.

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  • Yun Liang & John Gibson, 2017. "Do More Grandchildren Lead to Worse Health Status of Grandparents? Evidence from the China Health and Nutrition Survey," Working Papers in Economics 17/18, University of Waikato.
    • Handle: RePEc:wai:econwp:17/18
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    elderly; grandchildren; health; one-child policy; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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