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Who Will Care for Middle Aged and Elderly Parents in Rural China?
Author(s) -
Li Menghua,
Zhou Yun,
Shi Xinjie
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
china and world economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.815
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1749-124X
pISSN - 1671-2234
DOI - 10.1111/cwe.12373
Subject(s) - daughter , china , emotional support , pension , psychology , demographic economics , health and retirement study , longitudinal study , developmental psychology , gerontology , social support , business , economics , political science , medicine , social psychology , finance , pathology , law
Using data from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper analyzes how the health of parents is causally linked to the gender of their children. We find that, compared with parents with no daughters, those with one daughter are healthier by 0.155 more activities of daily living. This effect is mainly channeled through the provision of emotional comfort and financial support, and not through living with parents. We also confirm that daughters are an important source of financial and emotional support for elderly parents, regardless of whether the parents have pension insurance. This study has important policy implications for China as it focuses on the support from daughters, who historically have not been considered to be as reliable as sons in supporting their parents.