IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp5182.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Child Health and the Income Gradient: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Yi

    (University of California, Los Angeles)

  • Lei, Xiaoyan

    (Peking University)

  • Zhou, Li-An

    (Peking University)

Abstract

Though the positive income gradient of child health is well documented in developed countries, evidence from developing countries is rare. Few studies attempt to identify a causal link between family income and child health. Utilizing unique longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, we have found a positive, age-enhancing income gradient of child health, measured by height-for-age z scores. The gradient is robust to alternative specifications and a comprehensive set of controls. Using the fact that the rural tax reform implemented since 2000 created an exogenous variation in family income across regions and over time, we explore a causal explanation for the income gradient, and find that it has a very strong independent causal effect on child health.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Yi & Lei, Xiaoyan & Zhou, Li-An, 2010. "Child Health and the Income Gradient: Evidence from China," IZA Discussion Papers 5182, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5182
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp5182.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Strauss & Duncan Thomas, 1998. "Health, Nutrition, and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 766-817, June.
    2. Owen O'Donnell & Furio C. Rosati & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2005. "Health effects of child work: Evidence from rural Vietnam," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(3), pages 437-467, September.
    3. Anne Case, 2004. "Does Money Protect Health Status? Evidence from South African Pensions," NBER Chapters, in: Perspectives on the Economics of Aging, pages 287-312, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_money_protect_nber is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_economic_status_paper is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:pri:cheawb:case_money_protect_nber.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Janet Currie & Mark Stabile, 2003. "Socioeconomic Status and Child Health: Why Is the Relationship Stronger for Older Children?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1813-1823, December.
    8. Chen, Yuyu & Li, Hongbin, 2009. "Mother's education and child health: Is there a nurturing effect?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 413-426, March.
    9. Carol Propper & John Rigg & Simon Burgess, 2007. "Child health: evidence on the roles of family income and maternal mental health from a UK birth cohort," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(11), pages 1245-1269.
    10. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2008. "Height, Health and Cognitive Function at Older Ages," Working Papers 1127, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    11. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2008. "Height, Health and Cognitive Function at Older Ages," Working Papers 1007, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    12. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2006. "Stature and status: Height, ability, and labor market outcomes," Working Papers 232, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    13. Sato, Hiroshi & 佐藤, 宏 & Li, Shi & Yue, Ximing, 2006. "The Redistributive Impact of Taxation in Rural China, 1995-2002: an Empirical Study Using the 1995-2002 CASS CHIP Surveys," Discussion Papers 2006-10, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    14. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2008. "Stature and Status: Height, Ability, and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(3), pages 499-532, June.
    15. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2010. "Causes and Consequences of Early Life Health," Working Papers 1214, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    16. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_paxson_cog_function_additional is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Karen Eggleston & Li Ling & Meng Qingyue & Magnus Lindelow & Adam Wagstaff, 2008. "Health service delivery in China: a literature review," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 149-165, February.
    18. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_paxson_height_health_and_cognitive_function.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Janet Currie, 2009. "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 87-122, March.
    20. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_height_health_and_cognitive_function is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Wolff, François-Charles & Maliki, 2008. "Evidence on the impact of child labor on child health in Indonesia, 1993-2000," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 143-169, March.
    22. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_paxson_height_health_and_cognitive_function is not listed on IDEAS
    23. repec:pri:cheawb:case_money_protect_nber is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Carol Propper & John Rigg & Simon Burgess, 2007. "Child health: evidence on the roles of family income and maternal mental health from a UK birth cohort," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(11), pages 1245-1269, November.
    25. Currie, Janet & Decker, Sandra & Lin, Wanchuan, 2008. "Has public health insurance for older children reduced disparities in access to care and health outcomes?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1567-1581, December.
    26. Thomas, Duncan & Strauss, John, 1997. "Health and wages: Evidence on men and women in urban Brazil," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 159-185, March.
    27. Mangyo, Eiji, 2008. "The effect of water accessibility on child health in China," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1343-1356, September.
    28. repec:pri:cheawb:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2009. "Why Should We Care About Child Labor?: The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(4).
    30. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413, July.
    31. Esther Duflo, 2000. "Child Health and Household Resources in South Africa: Evidence from the Old Age Pension Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 393-398, May.
    32. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_economic_status_paper.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    33. repec:pri:cheawb:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    34. James H. Stock & Motohiro Yogo, 2002. "Testing for Weak Instruments in Linear IV Regression," NBER Technical Working Papers 0284, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    35. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    36. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2010. "Causes and Consequences of Early Life Health," Working Papers 1213, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    37. Deaton, Angus & Arora, Raksha, 2009. "Life at the top: The benefits of height," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 133-136, July.
    38. Simon Condliffe & Charles R. Link, 2008. "The Relationship between Economic Status and Child Health: Evidence from the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1605-1618, September.
    39. Himaz, Rozana, 2008. "Welfare Grants and Their Impact on Child Health: The Case of Sri Lanka," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1843-1857, October.
    40. Duncan Thomas & John Strauss & Maria-Helena Henriques, 1991. "How Does Mother's Education Affect Child Height?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(2), pages 183-211.
    41. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637 is not listed on IDEAS
    42. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2008. "Height, Health, and Cognitive Function at Older Ages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 463-467, May.
    43. Anne Case & Darren Lubotsky & Christina Paxson, 2002. "Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1308-1334, December.
    44. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2010. "Causes and consequences of early-life health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(1), pages 65-85, March.
    45. Currie, Alison & Shields, Michael A. & Price, Stephen Wheatley, 2007. "The child health/family income gradient: Evidence from England," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 213-232, March.
    46. Anne Case, 2001. "Does Money Protect Health Status? Evidence from South African Pensions," Working Papers 268, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    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. You, Jing, 2013. "The role of microcredit in older children’s nutrition: Quasi-experimental evidence from rural China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 167-179.
    2. Eriksson, Tor & Pan, Jay & Qin, Xuezheng, 2014. "The intergenerational inequality of health in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 392-409.
    3. Lei, Xiaoyan & Sun, Xiaoting & Strauss, John & Zhao, Yaohui & Yang, Gonghuan & Hu, Perry & Hu, Yisong & Yin, Xiangjun, 2014. "Reprint of: Health outcomes and socio-economic status among the mid-aged and elderly in China: Evidence from the CHARLS national baseline data," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 59-73.
    4. Lei, Xiaoyan & Sun, Xiaoting & Strauss, John & Zhao, Yaohui & Yang, Gonghuan & Hu, Perry & Hu, Yisong & Yin, Xiangjun, 2014. "Health outcomes and socio-economic status among the mid-aged and elderly in China: Evidence from the CHARLS national baseline data," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 29-43.
    5. Luo, Yaping & Wu, Jianxian & Xu, Ying, 2022. "Can self-governance tackle the water commons? — Causal evidence of the effect of rural water pollution treatment on farmers' health in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    6. Wang, Xiaxin & Shen, Yan, 2014. "The effect of China's agricultural tax abolition on rural families' incomes and production," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 185-199.
    7. Nina Wald, 2014. "The Impact of Displacement on Child Health: Evidence from Colombia's DHS 2010," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1420, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

    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. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Almond, Douglas & Currie, Janet, 2011. "Human Capital Development before Age Five," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 15, pages 1315-1486, Elsevier.
    3. Toshiaki Aizawa, 2020. "Trajectory of inequality of opportunity in child height growth: Evidence from the Young Lives study," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(7), pages 165-202.
    4. Eide, Eric R. & Showalter, Mark H., 2011. "Estimating the relation between health and education: What do we know and what do we need to know?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 778-791, October.
    5. Kim, Younoh & Sikoki, Bondan & Strauss, John & Witoelar, Firman, 2015. "Intergenerational correlations of health among older adults: Empirical evidence from Indonesia," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 44-56.
    6. Anne Nolan & Richard Layte, 2014. "Socio-economic Inequalities in Child Health in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 45(1), pages 25-64.
    7. Pérez-Mesa, David & Marrero, Gustavo A. & Darias-Curvo, Sara, 2021. "Child health inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 108801, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Kuehnle, Daniel, 2014. "The causal effect of family income on child health in the UK," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 137-150.
    9. Fernihough, Alan & McGovern, Mark E., 2015. "Physical stature decline and the health status of the elderly population in England," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 30-44.
    10. Swaminathan, Harini & Sharma, Anurag & Shah, Narendra G., 2019. "Does the relationship between income and child health differ across income groups? Evidence from India," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 57-73.
    11. Gaurav Dhamija, 2018. "The Joint Determination of Later Life Health and Educational Outcomes by Early Life Conditions: A Multinomial Logit Analysis," Review of Market Integration, India Development Foundation, vol. 10(3), pages 197-227, December.
    12. Gorry, Devon, 2017. "The influence of height on academic outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-8.
    13. Jason Fletcher & Barbara Wolfe, 2014. "Increasing Our Understanding Of The Health‐Income Gradient In Children," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 473-486, April.
    14. Eduardo A Undurraga & Leslie Zebrowitz & Dan T A Eisenberg & Victoria Reyes-García & TAPS Bolivia Study Team & Ricardo A Godoy, 2012. "The Perceived Benefits of Height: Strength, Dominance, Social Concern, and Knowledge among Bolivian Native Amazonians," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-10, May.
    15. David Pérez-Mesa & Gustavo A. Marrero & Sara Darias-Curvo, 2020. "Child health inequality and opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 557, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    16. Guven, Cahit & Lee, Wang-Sheng, 2015. "Height, aging and cognitive abilities across Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 16-29.
    17. Vogl, Tom S., 2014. "Height, skills, and labor market outcomes in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 84-96.
    18. Apouey, Bénédicte & Geoffard, Pierre-Yves, 2013. "Family income and child health in the UK," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 715-727.
    19. Khanam, Rasheda & Nghiem, Hong Son & Connelly, Luke B., 2009. "Child health and the income gradient: Evidence from Australia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 805-817, July.
    20. LaFave, Daniel & Thomas, Duncan, 2017. "Height and cognition at work: Labor market productivity in a low income setting," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 52-64.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    child health; income gradient; rural tax reform;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp5182. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.