我国城乡老龄健康：子女的作用有多大？--基于CHNS数据的实证研究

The Role of Children on the Health of the Elderly and the Comparison between China′s Urban and Rural Areas: Based on the Empirical Study of CHNS Data

在我国人口老龄化背景下,老龄健康已成为不可忽视的重要议题。本文运用CHNS2006年和2011年的面板数据,首先构建和测算了衡量老人健康质量的QWB指标并进行了城乡对比;在此之后,本文基于Grossman健康需求模型,研究了老龄健康的影响因素,重点探讨了兼顾居住模式和经济来源的二维养老模式对老龄健康的影响及其城乡差异。结果显示,养老模式对城乡老龄健康的影响存在异质性:与子女合住对农村老人的健康有显著促进作用,在此基础之上获得子女的赡养可进一步提高农村老人的健康;然而老人经济来源和居住模式上的双重独立对城市老人的健康十分有益。

Under the background of population aging in China, the health of the elderly has become an important issue that cannot be ignored. Using the 2006 and 2011 waves of CHNS dataset, this paper sets up and calculates QWB index to measure the health of the elderly and makes a comparison of the urban and rural areas first. Then, based on Grossman health demand model, this paper studies the factors affecting the health of the elderly, especially the influenc- ing effect of the two-dimensional elderly support pattern including the living pattern and the eco- nomic support. We find that the effects of the elderly support pattern on the health of the elderly are different for the rural and urban areas： Living with children can significantly improve the health of the rural elderly. If they further get the economic support from children, then this sup- port will raise their health level further. However, the dual independence of the urban elderly is very beneficial to their health, if they are neither living with nor getting the economic support from their children.