IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v43y2022i3d10.1007_s10834-022-09840-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Socioeconomic Status on Aging People’s Health in China

Author

Listed:
  • Qingyuan Xue

    (Inner Mongolia Medical University)

  • Nopphol Witvorapong

    (Chulalongkorn University)

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of socioeconomic status on health among older adults in China. It uses three waves of the nationally representative Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey conducted in 2005, 2008–2009, and 2011–2012. It explores two dependent dummy variables of self-rated health and functional health and employs subjective and objective measures of socioeconomic status. Based on two-stage fixed-effects linear probability modeling, where potential endogeneity bias is accounted for, this study finds that socioeconomic status positively affects both self-rated health and functional health of Chinese older people. The positive impact holds true across different gender and age groups, but it is sensitive to the choice of health and socioeconomic status measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Qingyuan Xue & Nopphol Witvorapong, 2022. "Effects of Socioeconomic Status on Aging People’s Health in China," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 476-488, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:43:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s10834-022-09840-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-022-09840-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10834-022-09840-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-022-09840-5?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. Halleröd, Björn & Gustafsson, Jan-Eric, 2011. "A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between changes in socio-economic status and changes in health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 116-123, January.
    2. Orazio P. Attanasio & Carl Emmerson, 2003. "Mortality, Health Status, and Wealth," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(4), pages 821-850, June.
    3. Smith, Kimberly V. & Goldman, Noreen, 2007. "Socioeconomic differences in health among older adults in Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 1372-1385, October.
    4. Roy, Kakoli & Chaudhuri, Anoshua, 2008. "Influence of socioeconomic status, wealth and financial empowerment on gender differences in health and healthcare utilization in later life: evidence from India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1951-1962, May.
    5. Kathleen A. Cagney & Diane S. Lauderdale, 2002. "Education, Wealth, and Cognitive Function in Later Life," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 57(2), pages 163-172.
    6. Witvorapong, Nopphol, 2018. "Healthy behaviours and productive activities among Thai older adults: A repeated cross-sectional analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 12-19.
    7. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 2-16, January.
    8. Michaud, Pierre-Carl & van Soest, Arthur, 2008. "Health and wealth of elderly couples: Causality tests using dynamic panel data models," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1312-1325, September.
    9. Koskinen, Seppo & Martelin, Tuija, 1994. "Why are socioeconomic mortality differences smaller among women than among men?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1385-1396, May.
    10. James J. Heckman & Thomas E. MaCurdy, 1985. "A Simultaneous Equations Linear Probability Model," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 18(1), pages 28-37, February.
    11. McDonough, P. & Duncan, G.J. & Williams, D. & House, J., 1997. "Income dynamics and adult mortality in the United States, 1972 through 1989," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1476-1483.
    12. Zeng Yi & James W. Vaupel & Xiao Zhenyu & Zhang Chunyuan & Liu Yuzhi, 2002. "Sociodemographic and Health Profiles of the Oldest Old In China," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 28(2), pages 251-273, June.
    13. Duncan, G.J. & Daly, M.C. & McDonough, P. & Williams, D.R., 2002. "Optimal indicators of socioeconomic status for health research," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(7), pages 1151-1157.
    14. Kimberly V. Smith & Noreen Goldman, 2007. "Socioeconomic differences in health among older adults in Mexico," Working Papers 283, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Office of Population Research..
    15. Jinkook Lee & Hyungsoo Kim, 2008. "A longitudinal analysis of the impact of health shocks on the wealth of elders," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(1), pages 217-230, January.
    16. Elo, Irma T. & Preston, Samuel H., 1996. "Educational differentials in mortality: United States, 1979-1985," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 47-57, January.
    17. Carrasco, Raquel, 2001. "Binary Choice with Binary Endogenous Regressors in Panel Data: Estimating the Effect of Fertility on Female Labor Participation," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(4), pages 385-394, October.
    18. Frijters, Paul & Haisken-DeNew, John P. & Shields, Michael A., 2005. "The causal effect of income on health: Evidence from German reunification," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 997-1017, September.
    19. Eikemo, Terje Andreas & Bambra, Clare & Judge, Ken & Ringdal, Kristen, 2008. "Welfare state regimes and differences in self-perceived health in Europe: A multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2281-2295, June.
    20. Peter Adams & Michael D. Hurd & Daniel L. McFadden & Angela Merrill & Tiago Ribeiro, 2004. "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise? Tests for Direct Causal Paths between Health and Socioeconomic Status," NBER Chapters, in: Perspectives on the Economics of Aging, pages 415-526, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Frijters, Paul & Haisken-DeNew, John P. & Shields, Michael A., 2005. "The causal effect of income on health: Evidence from German reunification," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 997-1017, September.
    22. Das, Jishnu & Do, Quy-Toan & Friedman, Jed & McKenzie, David & Scott, Kinnon, 2007. "Mental health and poverty in developing countries: Revisiting the relationship," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 467-480, August.
    23. Beydoun, May A. & Popkin, Barry M., 2005. "The impact of socio-economic factors on functional status decline among community-dwelling older adults in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(9), pages 2045-2057, May.
    24. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice: Reply," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 27-28, January.
    25. Anson, Ofra & Sun, Shifang, 2002. "Gender and health in rural China: evidence from HeBei province," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 1039-1054, September.
    26. Strauss, John & Lei, Xiaoyan & Park, Albert & Shen, Yan & Smith, James P. & Yang, Zhe & Zhao, Yaohui, 2010. "Health Outcomes and Socio-Economic Status among the Elderly in China: Evidence from the CHARLS Pilot," IZA Discussion Papers 5152, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    27. Semyonov, Moshe & Lewin-Epstein, Noah & Maskileyson, Dina, 2013. "Where wealth matters more for health: The wealth–health gradient in 16 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 10-17.
    28. repec:ran:wpaper:774 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Zimmer, Zachary & Amornsirisomboon, Pattama, 2001. "Socioeconomic status and health among older adults in Thailand: an examination using multiple indicators," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1297-1311, April.
    30. Kumar, Kaushalendra & Shukla, Ankita & Singh, Abhishek & Ram, Faujdar & Kowal, Paul, 2016. "Association between wealth and health among older adults in rural China and India," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 43-52.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Cheng, Lingguo & Liu, Hong & Zhang, Ye & Zhao, Zhong, 2018. "The health implications of social pensions: Evidence from China's new rural pension scheme," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 53-77.
    2. Odeyemi Gbenga A., 2015. "Understanding the Dynamics between Income and Health: Evidence Form African’s Richest and Poorest Countries," Journal of Public Policy & Governance, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 2(2), pages 56-67.
    3. Julien Hugonnier & Florian Pelgrin & Pascal St‐Amour, 2020. "Closing down the shop: Optimal health and wealth dynamics near the end of life," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 138-153, February.
    4. Oscar Erixson, 2017. "Health responses to a wealth shock: evidence from a Swedish tax reform," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(4), pages 1281-1336, October.
    5. Nilsson, William, 2006. "Socioeconomic Status and Sickness Absence - What do twins tell us about causality?," Umeå Economic Studies 670, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    6. van Kippersluis, Hans & O'Donnell, Owen & van Doorslaer, Eddy & Van Ourti, Tom, 2010. "Socioeconomic differences in health over the life cycle in an Egalitarian country," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 428-438, February.
    7. Javier Alvarez-Galvez & Maria Luisa Rodero-Cosano & Emma Motrico & Jose A. Salinas-Perez & Carlos Garcia-Alonso & Luis Salvador-Carulla, 2013. "The Impact of Socio-Economic Status on Self-Rated Health: Study of 29 Countries Using European Social Surveys (2002–2008)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Grace Lordan & Eliana Jimenez Soto & Richard P. C. Brown & Ignacio Correa‐Valez, 2012. "Socioeconomic status and health outcomes in a developing country," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 178-186, February.
    9. Peng Nie & Qing Li & Alan A. Cohen & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2021. "In search of China’s income-health gradient: a biomarker-based analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(48), pages 5599-5618, October.
    10. Beomsoo Kim & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2012. "Inheritances, health and death," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(2), pages 127-144, February.
    11. Alexander Ahammer & G. Thomas Horvath & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2017. "The effect of income on mortality—new evidence for the absence of a causal link," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 180(3), pages 793-816, June.
    12. Weichun Chen & Judith A. Clarke & Nilanjana Roy, 2014. "Health and wealth: Short panel Granger causality tests for developing countries," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 755-784, September.
    13. Julien Albertini & Anthony Terriau, 2019. "Wealth and health in South Africa," Working Papers halshs-02073800, HAL.
    14. Patryk Babiarz & Tansel Yilmazer, 2017. "The impact of adverse health events on consumption: Understanding the mediating effect of income transfers, wealth, and health insurance," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 1743-1758, December.
    15. John Gathergood & Eleonora Fichera, 2012. "House Prices, Home Equity and Health," Discussion Papers 12/07, University of Nottingham, School of Economics.
    16. Rehkopf, David H. & Jencks, Christopher & Glymour, M. Maria, 2010. "The association of earnings with health in middle age: Do self-reported earnings for the previous year tell the whole story?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 431-439, August.
    17. Timothy J. Halliday, 2017. "Earnings Growth and Movements in Self‐Reported Health," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(4), pages 760-776, December.
    18. Eleonora Fichera & John Gathergood, 2016. "Do Wealth Shocks Affect Health? New Evidence from the Housing Boom," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 57-69, November.
    19. Gintare Mazeikaite & Cathal O’Donoghue & Denisa M. Sologon, 2021. "What Drives Cross-Country Health Inequality in the EU? Unpacking the Role of Socio-economic Factors," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 117-155, May.
    20. MAZEIKAITE Gintare & O'DONOGHUE Cathal & SOLOGON Denisa, 2017. "Decomposing health inequality in the EU," LISER Working Paper Series 2017-02, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).

    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:kap:jfamec:v:43:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s10834-022-09840-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.