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Regional Disparities In Self‐Reported Health: Evidence From Chinese Older Adults

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  • Ren Mu

Abstract

Despite the subjectivity inherent in individuals' interpretation of good health, self‐reported health is widely used in health‐related studies. With data from the pilot survey of the new China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper applies the vignette method to control for differences in individual response scales and examines regional differences in self‐reported health among the elderly in China. The results show that people in different provinces seem to use different criteria when assessing their health conditions. Regional health disparities are underestimated if differentials in response scales are not accounted for. A substantial share of the disparities cannot be explained by the observed differences in respondents' chronic health condition, demographic characteristics, and household wealth, a finding confirmed by a test based on inpatient‐care information. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Ren Mu, 2014. "Regional Disparities In Self‐Reported Health: Evidence From Chinese Older Adults," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(5), pages 529-549, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:23:y:2014:i:5:p:529-549
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.2929
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    Cited by:

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    2. Zhiyong Huang & Haoxian Wang & Wenyuan Zheng, 2021. "An extended hierarchical ordered probit model robust to heteroskedastic vignette perceptions with an application to functional limitation assessment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Bakkeli, Nan Zou, 2016. "Income inequality and health in China: A panel data analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 39-47.
    4. 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.
    5. Laura Rossouw, 2015. "Poor Health Reporting: Do Poor South Africans Underestimate Their Health Needs?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-027, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Laura Rossouw, 2015. "Poor health reporting: Do poor South Africans underestimate their health needs?," WIDER Working Paper Series 027, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Chao Ma & Zhaopeng Qu & Zimeng Xu, 2020. "Internal Migration and Mental Health: An Examination of the Healthy Migration Phenomenon in China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(3), pages 493-517, June.
    8. Huang, Xian & Wu, Bingxiao, 2020. "Impact of urban-rural health insurance integration on health care: Evidence from rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    9. Molina, Teresa, 2017. "Adjusting for heterogeneous response thresholds in cross-country comparisons of self-reported health," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 10(C), pages 1-20.
    10. Teresa Molina, 2016. "Reporting Heterogeneity and Health Disparities Across Gender and Education Levels: Evidence From Four Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(2), pages 295-323, April.

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