儿童时期健康与营养状况的跨期收入效应

The Intertemporal Effect of Childhood Health and Nutrition Status on Adulthood Income

儿童时期的健康与营养状况可能对成年后的社会经济状况存在长期影响。本文利用中国健康与营养调查(CHNS)的数据,研究了儿童时期的健康与营养状况对成年后收入的影响。本文的研究结果表明,儿童时期的总体健康状况和16-18岁的营养摄入对成年后收入存在显著影响。本文还发现,母亲的受教育程度对子女成年后收入存在显著的正向影响,而父亲吸烟则存在显著的负向影响。本文的实证研究结果为理解中国收入不平等的起源提供了一个新的视角,并对降低收入不平等及减少贫困的公共政策提供了新的启示。

Childhood health and nutrition status may have long run effects on adulthood social economic status. This paper uses China Health and Nutrition survey （CHNS）data to study the long run effect of childhood health and nutrition status on adulthood income. We find that childhood health status and nutrition intakes during age 16 -18 have significant effects on adulthood income. This article also found that there is a significant positive effect of mother＇ s education on children＇ s adulthood income, and father＇ s smoking behavior has significant negative impact. The empirical findings provide a new perspective to understand the origin of income inequality in China, and provide a new inspiration to public policy which reduces income inequality and poverty.