IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v220y2019icp387-395.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic growth and mental health in 21st century China

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Qing
  • Tapia Granados, José A.

Abstract

Though there are many inconsistencies in the literature, in market economies periods of economic growth, i.e., expansions, have been generally found associated with better mental health than economic contractions, i.e., recessions. This study investigates the association of economic conditions and mental health in China using three consecutive surveys of a cohort of over 17,000 adults aged 45 or older interviewed in 2011–12, 2013, and 2015 for the CHARLS study, totaling over 42,000 observations. Mental health was assessed by indicators of depression symptoms, cognition impairment, and life dissatisfaction. We found higher rates of GDP growth per capita associated with a deterioration of mental health, manifested by higher scores of depression symptoms, cognitive impairment, and life dissatisfaction. The effects were small in size, quite similar in men and women and were modified by level of income, with the population of lower income being the most harmed by economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Qing & Tapia Granados, José A., 2019. "Economic growth and mental health in 21st century China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 387-395.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:220:y:2019:i:c:p:387-395
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.11.031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618306658
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.11.031?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2005. "Healthy living in hard times," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 341-363, March.
    2. Ann H. Stevens & Douglas L. Miller & Marianne E. Page & Mateusz Filipski, 2015. "The Best of Times, the Worst of Times: Understanding Pro-cyclical Mortality," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 279-311, November.
    3. Crost, Benjamin & Friedson, Andrew, 2017. "Recessions and health revisited: New findings for working age adults," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 27(PA), pages 241-247.
    4. David Cutler & Angus Deaton & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "The Determinants of Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 97-120, Summer.
    5. Strumpf, Erin C. & Charters, Thomas J. & Harper, Sam & Nandi, Arijit, 2017. "Did the Great Recession affect mortality rates in the metropolitan United States? Effects on mortality by age, gender and cause of death," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 11-16.
    6. Barr, Ben & Kinderman, Peter & Whitehead, Margaret, 2015. "Trends in mental health inequalities in England during a period of recession, austerity and welfare reform 2004 to 2013," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 324-331.
    7. C. Graham & S. Pettinato, 2002. "Frustrated Achievers: Winners, Losers and Subjective Well-Being in New Market Economies," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 100-140.
    8. Helliwell, John F. & Huang, Haifang, 2008. "How's Your Government? International Evidence Linking Good Government and Well-Being," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(4), pages 595-619, October.
    9. Antonova, Liudmila & Bucher-Koenen, Tabea & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2017. "Long-term health consequences of recessions during working years," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 134-143.
    10. Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2006. "Deaths rise in good economic times: Evidence from the OECD," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 298-316, December.
    11. Fidel Gonzalez & Troy Quast, 2011. "Macroeconomic changes and mortality in Mexico," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 305-319, April.
    12. Hollingshead, A.B. & Redlich, F.C., 2007. "Social class and mental illness: A community study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(10), pages 1756-1757.
    13. Graham, Carol & Zhou, Shaojie & Zhang, Junyi, 2017. "Happiness and Health in China: The Paradox of Progress," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 231-244.
    14. McInerney, Melissa & Mellor, Jennifer M., 2012. "Recessions and seniors’ health, health behaviors, and healthcare use: Analysis of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 744-751.
    15. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea & Paniccia, Renato (ed.), 2000. "The Mortality Crisis in Transitional Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297413.
    16. José A. Tapia Granados & Edward L. Ionides, 2017. "Population health and the economy: Mortality and the Great Recession in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 219-235, December.
    17. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    18. Athina Economou & Agelike Nikolaou & Ioannis Theodossiou, 2008. "Are recessions harmful to health after all?," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(5), pages 368-384, September.
    19. Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey & Corman, Hope & Noonan, Kelly & Reichman, Nancy E., 2016. "Lifecycle effects of a recession on health behaviors: Boom, bust, and recovery in Iceland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 90-107.
    20. World Bank, 2014. "World Development Indicators 2014," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18237.
    21. Brandt, Martina & Deindl, Christian & Hank, Karsten, 2012. "Tracing the origins of successful aging: The role of childhood conditions and social inequality in explaining later life health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(9), pages 1418-1425.
    22. Stillman, Steven, 2006. "Health and nutrition in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union during the decade of transition: A review of the literature," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 104-146, January.
    23. Charles, Kerwin Kofi & DeCicca, Philip, 2008. "Local labor market fluctuations and health: Is there a connection and for whom?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1532-1550, December.
    24. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "Health Effects of Economic Crises," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 6-24, November.
    25. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2003. "Good times make you sick," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 637-658, July.
    26. Maximova, Katerina & Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie, 2009. "Mental health consequences of unintended childlessness and unplanned births: Gender differences and life course dynamics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 850-857, March.
    27. Lee, Min-Ah, 2009. "Neighborhood residential segregation and mental health: A multilevel analysis on Hispanic Americans in Chicago," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 1975-1984, June.
    28. Jofre-Bonet, Mireia & Serra-Sastre, Victoria & Vandoros, Sotiris, 2018. "The impact of the Great Recession on health-related risk factors, behaviour and outcomes in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 213-225.
    29. Edwards, Ryan, 2008. "Who is hurt by procyclical mortality?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2051-2058, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Suleman Sarwar & Dalia Streimikiene & Rida Waheed & Zouheir Mighri, 2021. "Revisiting the empirical relationship among the main targets of sustainable development: Growth, education, health and carbon emissions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 419-440, March.
    2. Sibo Zhao & Jie Zhang & Lisu Peng & Wenhui Yang, 2021. "Mental Health Outcomes among Chinese College Students over a Decade," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Janke, Katharina & Lee, Kevin & Propper, Carol & Shields, Kalvinder & Shields, Michael A., 2023. "Economic conditions and health: Local effects, national effect and local area heterogeneity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 801-828.
    4. Ghazala Aziz, 2023. "Impact of Green Innovation, Sustainable Economic Growth, and Carbon Emission on Public Health: New Evidence of Non-Linear ARDL Estimation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Xinyi Zhao & Yue-Hui Yu & Man-Man Peng & Wei Luo & Shi-Hui Hu & Xin Yang & Bo Liu & Tin Zhang & Ru Gao & Cecilia Lai-Wan Chan & Mao-Sheng Ran, 2021. "Change of poverty and outcome of persons with severe mental illness in rural China, 1994-2015," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 67(4), pages 315-323, June.
    6. Wu, Wenqing & Zhu, Dongyang & Liu, Wenyi & Wu, Chia-Huei, 2022. "Empirical research on smart city construction and public health under information and communications technology," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Zishu Wang & Jie Zhao & Sijie Lin & Yi Liu, 2019. "Identification of Industrial Land Parcels and Its Implications for Environmental Risk Management in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomeration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Zhang, Kezhong & He, Fan & Ma, Yuanyuan, 2021. "Sex ratios and mental health: Evidence from China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    9. Sampson Asumah, 2022. "Relationship management and employee performance in non-profit-making organisations: empirical findings from Ghana and Nigeria," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(9), pages 1-16, September.
    10. Yishu Zhou & Jingyi Liu, 2020. "Air Pollution and Mental Health of Older Adults in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-13, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Propper, Carol & Janke, Katharina & Lee, Kevin & Shields, Kalvinder & Shields, Michael A, 2020. "Macroeconomic Conditions and Health in Britain: Aggregation, Dynamics and Local Area Heterogeneity," CEPR Discussion Papers 14507, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Wang, Huixia & Wang, Chenggang & Halliday, Timothy J., 2018. "Health and health inequality during the great recession: Evidence from the PSID," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 17-30.
    3. Colombo, Emilio & Rotondi, Valentina & Stanca, Luca, 2018. "Macroeconomic conditions and health: Inspecting the transmission mechanism," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 29-37.
    4. Chenggang Wang & Huixia Wang & Timothy J. Halliday, 2017. "Health and Health Inequality during the Great Recession: Evidence from the PSID," Working Papers 201703, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    5. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2015. "Recessions, healthy no more?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-28.
    6. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "Health Effects of Economic Crises," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 6-24, November.
    7. Janke, Katharina & Lee, Kevin & Propper, Carol & Shields, Kalvinder & Shields, Michael A., 2023. "Economic conditions and health: Local effects, national effect and local area heterogeneity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 801-828.
    8. Birgisdóttir, Kristín Helga & Hauksdóttir, Arna & Ruhm, Christopher & Valdimarsdóttir, Unnur Anna & Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey, 2020. "The effect of the economic collapse in Iceland on the probability of cardiovascular events," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    9. Federico Belotti & Joanna Kopinska & Alessandro Palma & Andrea Piano Mortari, 2022. "Health status and the Great Recession. Evidence from electronic health records," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(8), pages 1770-1799, August.
    10. Nizalova, Olena & Norton, Edward C., 2021. "Long-term effects of job loss on male health: BMI and health behaviors," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    11. Sarah A. Burgard & Jennifer A. Ailshire & Lucie Kalousova, 2013. "The Great Recession and Health," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 650(1), pages 194-213, November.
    12. Jofre-Bonet, Mireia & Serra-Sastre, Victoria & Vandoros, Sotiris, 2018. "The impact of the Great Recession on health-related risk factors, behaviour and outcomes in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 213-225.
    13. Cristina Bellés‐Obrero & Sergi Jiménez‐Martín & Judit Vall‐Castello, 2016. "Bad Times, Slimmer Children?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 93-112, November.
    14. Pinar Mine Gunes & Magda Tsaneva, 2022. "Labour market conditions and adult health in Mexico," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 106-137, February.
    15. Erdal Tekin & Chandler McClellan & Karen Jean Minyard, 2013. "Health and Health Behaviors during the Worst of Times," NBER Working Papers 19234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Christoph Kronenberg, 2021. "New(spaper) evidence of a reduction in suicide mentions during the 19th century US gold rush," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(10), pages 2582-2594, September.
    17. Lizhong Peng & Jie Chen & Xiaohui Guo, 2022. "Macroeconomic conditions and health‐related outcomes in the United States: A metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area‐level analysis between 2004 and 2017," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 3-20, January.
    18. Maddalena Cavicchioli & Barbara Pistoresi, 2020. "Unfolding the relationship between mortality, economic fluctuations, and health in Italy," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(3), pages 351-362, April.
    19. Kristín Helga Birgisdóttir & Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir, 2017. "Macroeconomic conditions and population health in Iceland," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(25), pages 769-852.
    20. Ariizumi, Hideki & Schirle, Tammy, 2012. "Are recessions really good for your health? Evidence from Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(8), pages 1224-1231.

    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:socmed:v:220:y:2019:i:c:p:387-395. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    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.