使用CFPS, CHFS, CHNS数据实证研究的精选文章专辑！

所有计量经济圈方法论丛的code程序, 宏微观数据库和各种软件都放在社群里.欢迎到计量经济圈社群交流访问.

前些日，咱们圈子引荐了①“实证研究中用到的200篇文章, 社科学者常备toolkit”、②实证文章写作常用到的50篇名家经验帖, 学者必读系列、③过去10年AER上关于中国主题的Articles专辑、④AEA公布2017-19年度最受关注的十大研究话题, 给你的选题方向，⑤Python, Stata, R软件史上最全快捷键合辑，受到各位学者欢迎和热议，很多博士生导师纷纷推荐给指导的学生参阅。

之前，咱们引荐了合成控制法（关于合成控制法SCM的33篇精选Articles专辑！）和双重差分法一样（关于双重差分法DID的32篇精选Articles专辑！），断点回归设计RDD（关于(模糊)断点回归设计的100篇精选Articles专辑！）。仅有计量方法，没有数据，学者们不可避免地会面临“巧妇难为无米之炊”难题。基于此，咱们社群进一步引荐使用CFPS、CHFS和CHNS做实证研究的社科文章，感兴趣的学者可以在社群下载交流和讨论。下面每一篇文章都值得年轻学者在2019-nCoV期间认真研习，毕竟每个个体在特殊时期都有自己的角色和相应责任。

1.中国家庭金融调查（China Household Finance Survey，CHFS）

它是西南财经大学中国家庭金融调查与研究中心（下称中心）在全国范围内开展的抽样调查项目，由甘犁教授于2009年发起并领导，收集有关家庭金融微观层次的相关信息。调查的内容主要包括：金融资产和包括住房资产在内的非金融资产、负债和信贷约束、收入、消费、社会保障与保险、代际转移支付、人口特征和就业以及支付习惯等。

中心每两年进行一次全国性入户追踪调查访问，已经分别在2011年和2013年成功实施两次调查。2011年第一轮调查样本分布在全国25个省（自治区、直辖市），80个县（区、县级市），320个村（居）委会，样本规模为8438户。2013年第二轮调查样本分布在全国29个省（自治区、直辖市），262个县（区、县级市），1048个村（居）委会，样本规模为28141户。同时，新一轮调查在保证全国代表性的前提下，增加了数据的省级代表性。中心于2014年开展季度电话回访，每次回访规模约为5000户，季度问卷内容为物价、房价、股价预期；房屋交易；借贷行为等。

Cai, D., et al. (2018). 'The relationship between credit constraints and household entrepreneurship in China.' International Review of Economics & Finance 58: 246-258.

This paper evaluates the impact of credit constraint on entrepreneurship by utilizing 2011 China Household Finance and Survey micro-data. We measure household credit constraint directly and use the LPM model to estimate the impact of credit constraint on entrepreneurship. We employ predetermined credit constraint, quasi-experiment, and instrumental variable to eliminate the possible endogeneity problem. Empirical estimates show that credit constraint significantly decreases the probabilities of households to start businesses by around 3 percentage points in general. Further analysis shows that credit constraint significantly decreases the propensity of households to entry into enterprise operation, while it has no significant impact on small handicraft operation.

 

Cheng, Z., et al. (2020). 'Housing wealth and happiness in Urban China.' Cities 96: 102470.

China has experienced rapid growth in inequality in housing wealth. We examine how housing wealth and housing wealth inequality are associated with happiness, drawing on panel data from three waves of the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS). We find that housing wealth and housing wealth inequality matter for happiness. More housing wealth increases happiness with diminishing returns to owning a second and third house. The relationship between housing wealth inequality and happiness depends on the reference group and the level of housing wealth inequality. An increase in housing wealth inequality among individuals of the same gender and similar age and education who live in the same city as me provides a signal that I also could accumulate housing wealth and this prospect makes me happier up to a threshold. However, once housing wealth inequality passes that threshold, this lowers my happiness because the wealth of those toward the top of the distribution seems out of reach. Similarly, a general increase in housing wealth inequality across the province in which I live lowers my happiness, which is consistent with a jealousy or status effect. We also employ the concentration index (CI) to examine the effect of housing wealth inequality on happiness inequality. The wealth-related CIs for happiness are all positive, suggesting that higher happiness is more concentrated among people with higher housing wealth.

 

Feng, X., et al. (2019). 'Financial literacy and household finances: A Bayesian two-part latent variable modeling approach.' Journal of Empirical Finance 51: 119-137.

We propose a Bayesian two-part latent variable model (TPLVM) to investigate the impacts of financial literacy on both sides of the household balance sheet, namely, household debt (secured debt and unsecured debt) and assets (housing assets and non-housing financial assets) by using a national sample from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS). TPLVM is an advanced joint modeling approach that integrates a factor analysis model and a two-part model to reveal the relationship between the latent variable, financial literacy, and multiple semi-continuous responses. The factor analysis model characterizes the latent financial literacy index on the basis of multiple manifest variables derived from a series of questions on various aspects of financial knowledge. The two-part model simultaneously evaluates the different influential patterns of latent and observable explanatory variables on the binary and continuous parts of multiple semi-continuous responses. Both the simulation study and the real sample analysis show that the developed one-stage methodology significantly outperforms the conventional methods. In the analysis of the CHFS data set, comprehensive results on the relationship between financial literacy and household finances are obtained, highlighting the flexibility of our framework. The empirical results reveal that the financial literacy of Chinese households is alarmingly low, and financial literacy indeed influences household finances in different aspects simultaneously. Thus, it is of importance to consider effective ways to enhance the financial sophistication of household heads to guide them in their household financial behavior and decision making.

 

Fu, S., et al. (2016). 'The effect of housing wealth on labor force participation: Evidence from China.' Journal of Housing Economics 33: 59-69.

This paper uses the 2011 China Household Finance Survey data to estimate the effect of changes in housing value on homeowners’ labor force participation. Using the average housing capital gains of other homes in the same community as an instrument for the housing capital gains of a given household, we find that a 100,000 yuan increase in housing value leads to a 1.37 percentage point decrease in female homeowners’ probability of participating in the labor force and a 1.49 percentage point increase in their probability of becoming housewives. We find little effect on men's labor force participation.

 

Hu, H., et al. (2020). 'The role of housing wealth, financial wealth, and social welfare in elderly households' consumption behaviors in China.' Cities 96: 102437.

China is facing great challenges in providing decent living conditions for the elderly. The effects of housing wealth and the social welfare system on elderly households' consumption behaviors have been widely explored, but little is known about the heterogeneous effects of various wealth sources on consumptions of different economic groups of the elderly. Taking into account regional differences, this paper investigated the extent to which housing wealth, financial wealth, and social welfare influence the consumption behaviors of the elderly of various economic status. We employed the linear mixed model estimation and quantile regression by using the China Household Finance Survey data collected from 2011 to 2015. Results showed that a large urban–rural gap exists between the eastern, central, and western regions of China. Housing wealth exerts limited effects on the urban elderly households' consumption behaviors but has significant positive effects on the rural elderly households' consumption. The financial wealth and pension may offset part of the consumption inequality generated from annual household income. An increasing pension contributes more to medical and health care consumption for the poor households. Policymakers need to enhance the social welfare system to take care of the most vulnerable elderly group in the first place.

 

Huang, Y., et al. (2020). 'Multiple home ownership in Chinese cities: An institutional and cultural perspective.' Cities 97: 102518.

China is a country of homeowners, where >80% of households own their homes and >20% of urban households own multiple homes. China achieved this unprecedented high rate home ownership in a short period of three decades. While we have a growing understanding of homeownership in general we are less clear about the process and outcomes of multiple home ownership in China. This paper examines the patterns of and driving forces for multiple home ownership, and explores the implications for housing inequality in Chinese cities. While socio-economic factors appear critical in China as is the case in the West, we argue for an institutional and cultural perspective to better understand multiple home ownership in China. The empirical analyses using 2015 China Household Finance Survey show that households who received housing subsidies, have urban registration, experienced demolition and resettlement, have school age children attending key schools, and have sons are more likely to own multiple homes. By focusing on the institutional and cultural forces, this paper better explains the unprecedented high rate of multiple homeownership in Chinese cities, and demonstrates how various housing policies in China have unintentionally contributed to multiple homeownership and thus housing and wealth inequality.

 

Le Vine, S., et al. (2018). 'A nationwide study of factors associated with household car ownership in China.' IATSS Research 42(3): 128-137.

Car ownership is growing very rapidly in China; whilst this is a reflection of sustained economic growth, it presents a major challenge to Chinese transport policymakers. The consequences of China's motorization also extend beyond the national borders, however, via mechanisms such as increased demand for new automobiles produced in North America and Europe and the global atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. Chinese cities are also experimenting with innovative transport policies to manage increasing car ownership, which in a number of cases go beyond the menu of policy options that have traditionally been considered in the West. Despite policy interest for these reasons, China's motorization process is poorly understood, in part due to a scarcity of relevant data. This paper contributes to the body of literature regarding this phenomenon by drawing on a unique data resource: the 2011 wave of the China Household Finance Survey (n=8438 households). This is a disaggregate national-scale survey dataset developed to monitor economic conditions in China, though to the authors' knowledge the CHFS has not previously been employed to study patterns of car ownership. We report a set of three analyses, to identify factors associated with: 1) whether a household owns at least one car, 2) multiple car ownership, and 3) whether a household owns a new car. Amongst other empirical results, we find that living in a rural area is negatively associated with car ownership, net of confounding effects, and that within towns/cities poor accessibility (i.e. long travel time) to the town/city centre is also negatively associated with car ownership. These findings regarding spatial effects are contrary to typical findings in the West, where car ownership is generally lowest in urban centres. An earlier version of this study was presented at the 2017 Transportation Research Board conference.

 

Li, J., et al. (2019). 'The impact of digital finance on household consumption: Evidence from China.' Economic Modelling.

Using panel data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2013, 2015, and 2017 and the digital inclusive finance index developed by Peking University, this study examined impacts of the digital inclusive finance on household consumption and explored its mechanisms. Results suggest that the digital inclusive finance could promote households consumption. A heterogeneity analysis showed that households with fewer assets, lower income, less financial literacy and in third- and fourth-tier cities experienced larger facilitating effects of digital finance on consumption compared to their counterparts. For consumption categories, digital finance was positively correlated with food, clothing, house maintenance, medical care, and education and entertainment expenditures. In terms of consumption structure, digital finance mainly promoted the recurring household expenditures rather than the non-recurring expenditures. Further analyses based on the mediating model found that online shopping, digital payment, obtainment of online credit, purchase of financing products on the internet and business insurance, were the main mediating variables through which digital finance affected household consumption.

 

Li, T. and C. C. Fan (2020). 'Occupancy, usage and spatial location of second homes in urban China.' Cities 96: 102414.

Since the late 1980s, homeownership in China has rapidly increased, and along with it the phenomenon of second homes. While research on multiple homes in China has examined second homes' ownership and tenure choice, little is known about the usage and spatial location of second homes. Using the nationally representative data from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey, this paper aims at documenting and analyzing the occupancy, usage and location of second homes of urban households in China. About 20% of urban households in China own second homes. Their leading usages are vacancy, renting and helping relatives, with only small percentages used for weekday commuting and leisure. Second homes' usage is influenced by the household's life cycle, socioeconomic status, the homes' and regional characteristics, and it differs among commodity housing and policy-related housing. Second homes are more common in large cities and in heavily urbanized areas, and they tend to be in relative proximity to primary homes. Unlike mature housing markets in Western countries where second homes are used primarily for leisure and income-generation, multiple homeownership in urban China reflects both family life cycle and institutional constraints more so than leisure pursuit.

 

Tang, M. and N. E. Coulson (2017). 'The impact of China's housing provident fund on homeownership, housing consumption and housing investment.' Regional Science and Urban Economics 63: 25-37.

In the absence of well-functioning credit and mortgage markets, the Chinese government has implemented several reforms to encourage home purchases. Among the most prominent of these is the Housing Provident Fund, which requires employers and employee contributions to a pool which is later used to make mortgage loans to participants. We use the 2011 Chinese Household Finance Survey and a smaller survey from Jinan, Shandong province to examine the extent to which the Fund encourages the acquisition of owner-occupied housing. We find that fund participants are more likely to be owner-occupiers, although they also purchase smaller properties than they otherwise might have, due to the down payment restrictions on mortgage loans. The HPF also encourages housing investment, but to a lesser extent.

 

Wang, Y., et al. (2020). 'Housing wealth inequality in China: An urban-rural comparison.' Cities 96: 102428.

Although China has witnessed remarkable increase in housing wealth and total household wealth in recent decades in both urban and rural areas, the housing inequality has grown significantly and urban-rural disparity remains substantial. While previous research has studied urban and rural housing separately, the overall pattern of housing inequality in China remains unexplored. Furthermore, it remains unclear how urban–rural housing inequality contributes to the widening urban–rural wealth gap. With the process of urbanization and new reforms in rural land policy, the housing markets of urban and rural areas are increasingly integrated. Therefore, a holistic understanding of housing inequality is needed. Analyzing data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), this study first finds that urban–rural inequality is a non-negligible component of the overall housing wealth inequality and that the housing wealth inequality in rural China is higher than that in urban China. Secondly, the relatively higher marketization of housing in urban China helps urban households accelerate their wealth accumulation through higher capital gains, thus widening the household wealth gap between urban and rural areas. These findings have important policy implications for further housing reforms as well as for urban–rural integration.

 

Wei, Z., et al. (2020). 'Housing differentiation in transitional urban China.' Cities 96: 102469.

Due to privatisation, economic restructuring, and liberalisation, housing differentiation commonly occurs in transitional cities worldwide. Cities in marketised socialist China are emblematic of this trend. The implementation of housing marketisation reforms in China intensified nationwide housing differentiation. The extant literature on China’s housing differentiation has mainly focused on different socio-economic groups within a particular city, while nationwide housing differentiation has not received much scholarly attention. Based on the 2015 China Household Finance Survey, this study explores nationwide housing differentiation patterns and identifies individual- and city-level factors driving such patterns in post-reform urban China. Considerable variations in terms of housing area and homeownership status were found across groups with different socio-economic and hukou conditions. Moreover, this study reveals that with the deepening of reforms, institutional factors inherited from the socialist planned economy era and burgeoning market mechanisms intertwined to intensify housing differentiation in transitional urban China. Housing differentiation in terms of housing area and homeownership status was significantly influenced by both individual- and city-level variables. The findings of this study can contribute to the further understanding of the patterns and mechanisms of housing differentiation in countries with transitional institutional environments.

 

Xu, N., et al. (2019). 'Financial literacy and formal credit accessibility: Evidence from informal businesses in China.' Finance Research Letters: 101327.

There is a sizable informal business sector in emerging markets. This paper investigates informal businesses’ accessibility to formal credit in China and their owners’ financial literacy as a potential determinant. By examining informal businesses in urban areas from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey, we find that business owners’ financial literacy is positively associated with the likelihood of their businesses holding bank loans. This positive relationship only exists among businesses whose owners have rural hukou and it is more pronounced in areas where formal-credit accessibility is lower.

 

Yang, X. and L. Gan (2020). 'Bequest motive, household portfolio choice, and wealth inequality in urban China.' China Economic Review 60: 101399.

This paper studies the role of bequest motives in household portfolio choices and wealth inequality using a computable incomplete-market life-cycle model with precautionary saving motives, accidental bequests and voluntary bequests. Calibrating the model to match the main features of household finance in China Household Finance Survey, we quantitatively measure the effect of voluntary bequest motives on the household portfolio choices and the wealth distribution in urban China. Our results indicate the importance of bequest motives in shaping the Chinese household portfolio choices and wealth inequality, and have the policy implication on the implementation of inheritance taxes to alleviate the wealth concentration and to promote household consumption in contemporary China.

 

Yang, Y., et al. (2019). 'Does religious faith affect household financial market participation? Evidence from China.' Economic Modelling 83: 42-50.

Based on the 2013 China Household Finance Survey data, this paper investigates the impact of religious faith on household financial market participation and portfolio choice. The results show that religious faith can significantly promote household financial market participation. Besides, religious faith can increase the proportion of risky assets held by households, including equities. We also find that the need for social interaction and human capital accumulation can significantly induce religious residents to participate in financial markets and hold risky assets. Overall, our results reveal how faith affects household finance activities in China.

 

Yin, Z., et al. (2019). 'What Drives Entrepreneurship in Digital Economy? Evidence from China.' Economic Modelling 82: 66-73.

Using data collected in the 2017 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), we study the impact of mobile payment on the likelihood of household entrepreneurship. In the empirical analysis, we use two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression to address the endogeneity of mobile payment. The study finds that mobile payment significantly increases the likelihood of household entrepreneurship. The mechanism could be that the mobile payment: 1) makes users more risk seeking; 2) enriches social networks; 3) provides an additional lending channel.

 

Zhang, C., et al. (2014). 'Are poverty rates underestimated in China? New evidence from four recent surveys.' China Economic Review 31: 410-425.

Knowledge of poverty prevalence is essential for any society concerned with improving public welfare and reducing poverty. In this paper, we estimate and compare poverty incidence rates in China using four nationally representative surveys: the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) of 2010, the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) of 2010, the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) of 2011, and the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) of 2007. Using both international and official domestic poverty standards, we show that poverty rates at the national, rural, and urban levels based on the CFPS, CGSS, and the CHFS are all much higher than the official estimates and those based on the CHIP. This study highlights the importance of using independent datasets to verify official statistics of public and policy concern in contemporary China.

 

Zhao, D., et al. (2019). 'Can entrepreneurship bring happiness? Evidence from China.' Economic Modelling.

This paper investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial activities and the happiness of entrepreneurs. We estimate the effects of entrepreneurial decision-making, business experience and other factors on happiness by using China Household Finance Survey data. Our results derived from maximum likelihood estimation methods indicate that entrepreneurial decision-making and entrepreneurial experience affect household happiness significantly. The family well-being is significantly increased if the family is entrepreneurial, and it will be higher if actively entrepreneurial. Both entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurial investment of time have significantly positive effect on the probability of family well-being. In addition, we find that the mechanism by which entrepreneurship brings happiness to households is through raising household income and wealth, that is, income effects and wealth effects.

 

Zheng, X., et al. (2020). 'Does happiness dwell in an owner-occupied house? Homeownership and subjective well-being in urban China.' Cities 96: 102404.

This study investigates the causal relationship between homeownership and subjective well-being based on household-level panel data collected from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2011 and 2013. The extent to which homeownership contributes to the changes in subjective well-being is estimated, focusing on the heterogeneous effects across socioeconomic and demographic groups. Evidence from the identification strategies indicates that homeownership has a positive impact on subjective well-being. Moreover, the results are robust to different specifications and unaffected by the financial constraints faced by new homeowners. Our findings have useful implications for policymakers to stimulate homeownership rates to promote subjective well-being.

2.中国家庭追踪调查（Chinese Family Panel Studies, CFPS）

它是北京大学中国社会科学调查中心实施的、一个旨在通过跟踪搜集个体、家庭、社区三个层次的数据，反应中国社会、经济、人口、教育和健康的变迁，为学术研究和政策决策提供数据为目标的重大社会科学项目。

项目的前期经费由教育部985二期计划支持，从2005年开始进行筹备，2006年成立机构（北京大学中国社会科学调查中心），2007年正式进入前期工作，在北京、河北、上海完成了两次共计140户的测试性调查，问卷工具基本成熟。2008年在北京、上海、广东的展开探索性调查，调查规模为2400户；2009年在北京、上海、广东三地展开工具性测试跟踪调查，测试CAPI技术、调查进程实时管理技术、调查进程实时技术支持系统、数据质量实时监控技术的稳定性和可靠性。2010年在全国（西藏、青海、新疆、宁夏、内蒙古、海南、香港、澳门、台湾不在其列）正式实施，调查规模为16000户，每两年进行一次跟踪调查。

Cai, S. and J. Wang (2018). 'Less advantaged, more optimistic? Subjective well-being among rural, migrant and urban populations in contemporary China.' China Economic Review 52: 95-110.

Using a recent national dataset from the China Family Panel Studies, this study provides new evidence regarding the subjective well-being puzzle across multiple indicators among rural, migrant and urban populations in contemporary China. The results show that rural people on average have higher levels of life satisfaction than do migrants or urban residents, despite their disadvantaged economic situations. The decomposition analyses reveal that subjective social status plays a substantial role in accounting for group disparities in life satisfaction, whereas objective social status and experiences of social mobility have less explanatory power. These findings suggest the importance of within-group comparison in shaping individuals' well-being in segregated societies such as China.

 

Chen, X., et al. (2019). 'Does money relieve depression? Evidence from social pension expansions in China.' Social Science & Medicine 220: 411-420.

We estimate the impact of pension enrollment on mental well-being using China's New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS), the largest existing pension program in the world. Since its launch in 2009, more than 400 million Chinese have enrolled in the NRPS. We first describe plausible pathways through which pension may affect mental health. We then use the national sample of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to examine the effect of pension enrollment on mental health, as measured by CES-D and self-reported depressive symptoms. To overcome the endogeneity of pension enrollment or of income change on mental health, we exploit geographic variation in pension program implementation. Results indicate modest to large reductions in depressive symptoms due to pension enrollment; this effect is more pronounced among individuals eligible to claim pension income, among populations with more financial constraints, and among those with worse baseline mental health. Our findings hold for a rich set of robustness checks and falsification tests.

 

Cui, Y., et al. (2019). 'Mother's education and child development: Evidence from the compulsory school reform in China.' Journal of Comparative Economics 47(3): 669-692.

This paper investigates the causal impact of mother's schooling on various outcomes of adolescent development by exploiting the temporal and geographical variations in the enforcement of compulsory schooling laws in China. Using data from China Family Panel Studies, we find that mother's education increases adolescents’ school enrollment, math test scores, college aspiration, and internal locus of control related to education. Mother's education also improves adolescent mental health status and reduces the incidence of underweight. We also find considerable gender heterogeneity in the effects of mother's education. The results further indicate that mother's education leads to an increase in family resources for children and an improvement in maternal mental health and parenting, which we interpret as potential mechanisms behind our findings.

 

de Bruin, A. and N. Liu (2019). 'The urbanization-household gender inequality nexus: Evidence from time allocation in China.' China Economic Review: 101301.

Urbanization and accompanying socio-economic change, alter intra-household behaviours including paid and unpaid work patterns. China's rapid urbanization raises important questions about the changing nature of gender asymmetries in the household division of labour. Using 24-hour time module data from the China Family Panel Studies, we investigate time allocation of females and males in matched-couples in urban, rural-urban migrant, and rural households. Our model explicitly incorporates the impact of care of young children on time-use. Distinguishing between care and other housework, overall, we find while traditional gendered time-use patterns persist among rural households, urbanization and migration reduces gender differentials in unpaid work. Both urban and migrant fathers engage in more care work than their rural counterparts. We shed new light on the configurations of paid and unpaid work, leisure and self-care; women's burden of a ‘second shift’ of unpaid work; the role of education and income in eroding gender norms; and the impact of grandparents on time-use.

 

Dou, J., et al. (2019). 'Trustworthiness of local government, institutions, and self-employment in transitional China.' China Economic Review 57: 101329.

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the trustworthiness of the local government and individuals' self-employment decision by using data from the China Family Panel Studies. We find that the trustworthiness of the local government has a statistically significant role in individuals' decision about self-employment and that the marginal effect on self-employment is context dependent and increases with the quality of the institutions. The trustworthiness of the local government prompts self-employment in provinces where the market institutions are well developed and suppresses it in other regions. Heterogeneity concerns on rural-urban and generations are also explored. We also find that the quality of market institutions increases self-employment, and the scale increases with the trustworthiness of the local government.

 

Du, H., et al. (2019). 'Income inequality is detrimental to long-term well-being: A large-scale longitudinal investigation in China.' Social Science & Medicine 232: 120-128.

Background Much of the research on the detrimental effects of inequality on well-being is based on cross-sectional surveys, which may have over- or under-estimated the relationship between income inequality and well-being. Moreover, the vast majority of the work comes from Western industrialized contexts but it is not known to what extent the same pattern holds in non-Western developing countries. Objective The current research aims to address these two issues by investigating the longitudinal effects of income inequality on well-being in China. Method We used the China Family Panel Studies dataset in 2010–2014. Our study includes a representative sample of 29,331 residents from 20 provinces in China. The participants completed measures of well-being, including subjective well-being and psychological distress. We examined whether provincial-level income inequality in 2010 predicted individual-level well-being in 2014. Results Multilevel analyses showed that residents in more unequal provinces had lower subjective well-being and greater psychological distress. The patterns still held, after controlling for baseline well-being and a number of covariates, including age, gender, education, income, ethnicity, marital status, and urban/rural residence. The effects of inequality on well-being differed across socioeconomic groups. Conclusion Findings suggest that income inequality has long-term adverse consequences on well-being in a non-Western developing society. Furthermore, its effects are moderated by financial wealth.

 

Fan, X. (2019). 'Discrimination experience, family relations, and generalized trust in China.' Social Science Research 77: 115-129.

Building upon how experiential learning theory explains sources of generalized trust, this study argues that discrimination experiences of others in individual's social network, especially those in close social ties, can have spillover influence on one's generalized trust. Empirically, this study focuses on family relations and examines whether another family member's discrimination experiences may shape an adult individual's generalized trust. Using husband–wife and parent–child linked data from the adult sample of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2012, this study confirms findings that an individual's discrimination experiences negatively impact their own level of generalized trust. Additionally, net of one's own experiences of discrimination, the disorder experienced by closely related others also affects generalized trust. This is true for effects that travel from husband to wife and wife to husband. However, these impacts are not found in parent–child relationships. The results of this study extend previous literature on sources of generalized trust by suggesting an additional mechanism whereby family members' experiences with discrimination spillover to affect generalized trust for closely related adults.

 

Gong, X., et al. (2016). 'The effects of preschool attendance on adolescent outcomes in rural China.' Early Childhood Research Quarterly 37: 140-152.

Despite growing public attention to access to preschool education in rural China, there is limited evidence about its potential long-term impacts on child development. Using a nationally representative dataset from China Family Panel Studies, this paper is the first rigorously estimating the long-term effects of preschool attendance on multiple domains of child development in rural China for a sample of 11–15year olds. Results based on ordinary least squares analysis, county fixed effects, and propensity score matching point to a consistent positive association between preschool attendance and individual social skills, although no association was found between attendance and cognitive skills. Directions for future research and policy recommendations related to early education development in China are discussed.

 

Hou, B., et al. (2020). 'Returns to military service in off-farm wage employment: Evidence from rural China.' China Economic Review 59: 101361.

This paper studies the returns to military service in off-farm wage employment and the implications of military service on the rural-urban transition in rural China. We exploit government-induced variations in aggregate enrollment rates as our instrumental variable. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies, we find a substantial positive effect of military service on off-farm wage employment and earnings for men of rural origin, which is comparable in magnitude to the estimated returns to a college education in China. We also provide evidence that the earnings premium is likely to be explained by improved access to urban formal employment, political and human capital accumulation. However, in spite of the off-farm employment gain for all cohorts, we find that the positive earnings premium of military service is mainly concentrated among the pre-1970 cohort.

 

Shen, W. (2020). 'A tangled web: The reciprocal relationship between depression and educational outcomes in China.' Social Science Research 85: 102353.

Research on depression and education usually focuses on a unidirectional relationship. This paper proposes a reciprocal relationship, simultaneously estimating the effects of depression on education and of education on depression. China, which has the world's largest education system, is used as a case study. This paper applies structural equation modeling to three datasets: the China Family Panel Studies, the China Education Panel Survey, and the Gansu Survey of Children and Families. Analyses reveal a reciprocal and negative relationship between depression and educational outcomes. Specifically, early depression reduces later educational achievement, and higher educational achievement also lowers the level of subsequent depression by resulting in less peers' unfriendliness, less pressure from parents' expectations, and less teachers' criticism. More time spent on studies is not associated with higher educational achievement but significantly increases the level of depression. Children from lower SES families bear more pressure and spend more time on studies, which does not correspond to higher educational achievement but rather to higher levels of depression. In the long term, prior depression lowers educational attainment and, after controlling for prior depression, lower educational attainment is also associated with higher levels of subsequent depression. This paper shows that the lower achievers, not the high achievers, bear the major psychological burden of the education system's quest to produce high achievement. This situation reinforces these students' educational disadvantage.

 

Song, Y. and G. Zhou (2019). 'Inequality of opportunity and household education expenditures: Evidence from panel data in China.' China Economic Review 55: 85-98.

This paper offers one of the first pieces of empirical evidence on the impact of inequality of opportunity on household education investment by using the panel data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in three waves (2010, 2012 and 2014). Our result suggests that inequality of opportunity has a negative effect on household education expenditures. This result is robust to a series of robustness checks. Furthermore, for relatively disadvantaged households (household heads with less education, income, or rural hukou status), inequality of opportunity has a larger negative effect on their education expenditures. Policy suggestions to lower inequality of opportunity may include reducing labor market discrimination based on gender and hukou status, balancing education resources to create more equal educational opportunities, and offering children education subsidies in low-income families.

 

Ta, Y., et al. (2020). 'Trends in access to health services, financial protection and satisfaction between 2010 and 2016: Has China achieved the goals of its health system reform?' Social Science & Medicine 245: 112715.

Guided by the principle of universal health coverage, China began its complex health system reform in 2009. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study assesses trends in healthcare utilization, financial protection, and satisfaction between 2010 and 2016. We use difference-in-means tests and regression analysis to evaluate overall trends and compare subsample results by urban/rural residence and income quartiles to examine changes in inequity. Our results show that China has achieved substantial improvements in access to healthcare services and financial protection since the health system reform in 2009. First, China has experienced a substantial increase in both inpatient and outpatient care utilization between 2010 and 2016. Second, people receive better financial protection by measures of health insurance coverage, inpatient reimbursement rate, the likelihood of incurring catastrophic health expenditure, and the likelihood of medical impoverishment. Third, inequity in financial protection by income quartiles has significantly decreased, though poorer groups remain more vulnerable. However, we do not observe a concurrent increase in satisfaction towards the health system. We also find that people are more willing to seek medical services in hospitals rather than primary care institutions. All these results suggest that China's ongoing health system reform should pay more attention to establishing a tiered health delivery system, strengthening financial protection for the poor, and increasing responsiveness to rising expectations.

 

Wang, H., et al. (2019). 'Health outcomes, health inequality and Mandarin proficiency in urban China.' China Economic Review 56: 101305.

We examine the health returns to proficiency in Mandarin in urban China using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies. We find that greater proficiency in Mandarin improves self-reported health, mental health and capacity to perform activities of daily living. We also examine the relationship between Mandarin proficiency and health inequality and the decomposition results show that differences in Mandarin proficiency account for between 2% and 20% of health inequality in urban China, depending on the health indicator. Our results suggest that promoting ‘standard Mandarin’ can serve as a vehicle to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequality.

 

Zhang, D., et al. (2019). 'A multidimensional measure of energy poverty in China and its impacts on health: An empirical study based on the China family panel studies.' Energy Policy 131: 72-81.

Abstract: Inability or insufficient access to modern forms of energy is an important issue in development, which makes the notion of energy poverty a widely discussed topic. A consensus has been reached that energy poverty has serious health, education, and other socio-economic impacts for people in a country. However, measurements of energy poverty have generally been absent or inaccurate, especially for developing countries at the micro level. This paper begins with the multidimensional nature of energy poverty and uses household-level survey data in China to construct a quantitative measure of energy poverty, covering both affordability of and accessibility to a broad range of forms of energy. It then builds an econometric model to address empirically how much energy poverty affects health. A statistically significant and robust negative impact on health from energy poverty is confirmed. Our results have important policy relevance in terms of understanding the current status quo of energy poverty in China and its consequences. The concept can also be expanded to investigate similar issues in other developing countries.

 

Zhang, Q. and S. Awaworyi Churchill (2020). 'Income inequality and subjective wellbeing: Panel data evidence from China.' China Economic Review 60: 101392.

Using four waves of longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we examine the effects of income inequality on subjective wellbeing (SWB). We take a dual approach in measuring income inequality, and thus, we examine the effects of inequality using province-level Gini coefficient as well as between-group inequality or identity-related inequality defined as the income gap between migrants without urban household registration identity (hukou) and urban residents. We find negative effects of both province-level income inequality and between-group income inequality on SWB, measured by life satisfaction. Our results also show that the effects of income inequality on SWB is stronger for rural hukou residents compared to urban hukou residents. These findings are robust to alternative ways of measuring SWB and income inequality. In addition, we find evidence suggesting that neighbourhood trust is an important channel through which income inequality operates to reduce SWB. We suggest policies that promote trust in communities with high inequality with a view of addressing the negative effects of inequality on SWB.

 

Zhao, P. and Y. Bai (2019). 'The gap between and determinants of growth in car ownership in urban and rural areas of China: A longitudinal data case study.' Journal of Transport Geography 79: 102487.

Growth in car ownership plays an important role in improving personal mobility and well-being. Social inequality in car ownership between urban and rural areas is a key issue for those concerned with transport justice, and is increasingly attracting the attention of researchers in both developed and developing countries. However, empirical evidence from developing countries remains scarce. More specifically, existing findings are dominated by cross-sectional data analysis, while longitudinal data analyses are rare. This study contributes fresh evidence by looking at the case of China, where the number of private cars increased from 65 to 165 million during the period 2010–2016. It uses nationwide panel survey data (2010–2016) from the CFPS (China Family Panel Studies) to examine the change in individual household car ownership and its determinants. Generally speaking, growth in car ownership is significantly related to higher household income for both urban and rural households. However, increasing income inequality between urban and rural households appears to be increasing the gap in car ownership. The gap is also affected by a family's life events, including an increase in family size, owning housing and residential relocation. Less proximity to basic public services (e.g. schools, hospitals) in the rural areas is especially related to ‘forced’ car ownership for rural households that have financial difficulties. Many forced car owners (13.2%) reported their life satisfaction decreased after buying a car. For urban households, car licence control policies, such as the car licence auction and lottery systems, are significantly constraining the growth of their car ownership, and worsening social inequality in car ownership between the rich and the poor and between local residents and migrants without local hukou. Apart from a personal voluntary choice, contextual and institutional constraints are becoming vital factors influencing social inequalities in car ownership in transition China.

3.中国健康营养调查数据（China Health and Nutrition Survey，CHNS）

它是由美国罗莱纳州人口中心和中国疾病控制和预防中心的国家营养和食品安全所合作建立的一个面板数据(包含农村和城镇)。包括的省份：辽宁、黑龙江、江苏、山东、河南、湖北、湖北、湖南、广西、贵州。通过我们的梳理发现，当今国际上一些比较好的刊物里的很多文章也是用这个数据做的。

调查的内容涉及诸多方面，包括健康学、营养学、社会学、人口学、经济学、公共政策等多个学科。CHNS数据的内容十分广泛，包括社区调查、家庭户调查、个人调查、健康调查、营养和体质测验、食品市场调查及健康和计划生育调查。

Bredenkamp, C. (2009). 'Policy-related determinants of child nutritional status in China: The effect of only-child status and access to healthcare.' Social Science & Medicine 69(10): 1531-1538.

This paper examines the determinants of child nutritional status in China, focusing specifically on those determinants related to health system reform and only-child status. Data are drawn from four waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (1991–2000). The empirical relationship between nutritional status, on the one hand, and income, access to quality healthcare and being an only-child, on the other hand, is investigated using ordinary least squares (OLS), random effects (RE), fixed effects (FE) and instrumental variables (IV) models. In the preferred model – a fixed effects model where income is instrumented – we find that being an only-child increases height-for-age z-scores by 0.12 of a standard deviation. By contrast, measures of access to quality healthcare are not found to be significantly associated with improved nutritional status.

 

Che, Y. and X. Li (2018). 'Retirement and health: Evidence from China.' China Economic Review 49: 84-95.

One typical feature of China's pension system is that retirement is mandatory. By exploiting the exogenous change created by this mandatory retirement policy, we use the mandatory retirement age as an instrument for retirement status to examine the effect of retirement on individual health using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). Our main finding is that the probability of “fair” or “poor” self-reported health among white-collar workers decreases by 34 percentage point after retirement. This result is generally robust to different model specifications, alternative measures of health, and different subsamples. In addition, we deliver evidence that increased health-related exercises and the cultivation of a better lifestyle are two possible channels through which retirement affects health.

 

Chen, Z. and D. Meltzer (2008). 'Beefing up with the Chans: Evidence for the effects of relative income and income inequality on health from the China Health and Nutrition Survey.' Social Science & Medicine 66(11): 2206-2217.

A great deal of research has examined the hypothesis that the well-being of individuals is shaped not just by the absolute level of resources available to them but also the level of resources available to them relative to others in their cohort or community. Several causal pathways have been hypothesized to explain associations between relative social position and health. For example, greater community income could increase the overall availability of health care in a community or decrease the availability for people for any given level of individual income. Relative social position could also create stress, resulting in adverse health outcomes through increased hypertension and other pathways. We explore yet another pathway by which relative social position may affect health. Specifically, to the extent that norms about physical appearance might be shaped by one's observations of others, we examine whether obesity might constitute another physiologic pathway by which community attributes could influence aspects of individual health, such as hypertension. We examine this hypothesis in rural China, where income often limits food intake so that, if community norms are an important determinant of individual obesity, higher community income could increase the obesity rate in a community and therefore change norms about obesity. These norms, in turn, could increase individuals' chances of being obese given their income. To test this hypothesis, we use multilevel linear probability models to examine the relationship between ecologic factors, i.e., relative income and income inequality, and health risk factors, i.e., obesity and hypertension among a sample of Chinese adults interviewed in four waves over 9 years. The results suggest that, among rural Chinese residents, increasing community average income and income inequality are positively associated with both obesity and hypertension. However, the effect of relative income on hypertension is not accounted for by increases in obesity. We did not find a strong relationship between socioeconomic conditions and the health risk factors among urban residents, where norms might be likely to be less strongly influenced by local attributes. Hence, the present study provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that relative income and income inequality affect obesity and hypertension, but no evidence that the effects on hypertension operated through effects on obesity.

 

Lei, L. (2017). 'The impact of community context on children's health and nutritional status in China.' Social Science & Medicine 179: 172-181.

The link between community environment and individual health outcomes has been widely documented in Western literature, but little is known about whether community context influences children's health over and above individual characteristics in developing countries. This study examines how community socioeconomic status (SES) influences children's self-rated health and nutritional status in urban and rural China and explores whether the effects of community SES vary by a child's gender and family background. Using data from the China Family Penal Studies in 2010, this study focuses on children aged 10–15 years old living in 261 urban neighborhoods and 293 rural villages in China. Multilevel regression models are estimated to examine the effect of community SES on the probability of reporting poor/fair health and nutritional status measured by height for age while controlling for individual and family characteristics. The results suggest that community SES has a positive and curvilinear effect on children's health and nutritional status in urban China, and it only positively influences children's nutrition in rural China. Community SES has a stronger effect for boys than for girls, and for children in poorer families and families with lower levels of parental involvement.

 

 

Lin, Y. and F. Liu (2019). 'Indoor air quality and health: Empirical evidence from fluoride pollution in China.' China Economic Review.

In this paper we conducted an econometric analysis to investigate the impacts of fluoride pollution on health. Burning high-fluoride-content coal indoors is the primary source of fluoride pollution in Guizhou Province of China. Exploiting longitudinal data from China Health and Nutrition Survey, we applied individual fixed effect models and triple difference models to examine the effects of whether households use coal as domestic fuel. The results showed that fluoride pollution from coal burning significantly increases the diastolic and systolic blood pressure levels of adults. And the pollution also leads to higher likelihood of underweight. Our further analysis indicated that fluoride pollution from coal burning during the infant period greatly reduces the height and weight of children in their childhood and adolescence periods. We also explore the mechanism by investigating the influence of fluoride pollution exposure on birthweight and find evidence that fluoride pollution had a negative impact on prenatal development.

 

Liu, H., et al. (2013). 'Urban–rural disparities of child health and nutritional status in China from 1989 to 2006.' Economics & Human Biology 11(3): 294-309.

This paper analyzes urban–rural disparities of China's child health and nutritional status using the China Health and Nutrition Survey data from 1989 to 2006. We investigate degrees of health and nutritional disparities between urban and rural children in China as well as how such disparities have changed during the period 1989–2006. The results show that on average urban children have 0.29 higher height-for-age z-scores and 0.19 greater weight-for-age z-scores than rural children. Urban children are approximately 40% less likely to be stunted (OR=0.62; p<0.01) or underweight (OR=0.62; p<0.05) during the period 1989–2006. We also find that the urban–rural health and nutritional disparities have been declining significantly from 1989 to 2006. Both urban and rural children have increased consumption of high protein and fat foods from 1989 to 2006, but the urban–rural difference decreased over time. Moreover, the urban–rural gap in child preventive health care access was also reduced during this period.

 

Ng, S. W., et al. (2009). 'Why have physical activity levels declined among Chinese adults? Findings from the 1991–2006 China health and nutrition surveys.' Social Science & Medicine 68(7): 1305-1314.

Between 1991 and 2006, average weekly physical activity among adults in China fell by 32%. This paper discusses why total and occupational physical activity levels have fallen, and models the association between the rapid decline and various dimensions of exogenous community urbanization. We hypothesize that a) physical activity levels are negatively associated with urbanization; b) urbanization domains that affect job functions and opportunities will contribute most to changes in physical activity levels; and c) these urbanization domains will be more strongly associated for men than for women because home activities account for a larger proportion of physical activity for women. To test these hypotheses, we used longitudinal data from individuals aged 18–55 in the 1991–2006 China Health and Nutrition Surveys. We find that physical activity declines were strongly associated with greater availability of higher educational institutions, housing infrastructure, sanitation improvements and the economic wellbeing of the community in which people function. These urbanization factors predict more than four-fifths of the decline in occupational physical activity over the 1991–2006 period for men and nearly two-thirds of the decline for women. They are also associated with 57% of the decline in total physical activity for men and 40% of the decline for women. Intervention strategies to promote physical activity in the workplace, at home, for transit and via exercise should be considered a major health priority in China.

 

Ren, Y., et al. (2019). 'Family income and nutrition-related health: Evidence from food consumption in China.' Social Science & Medicine 232: 58-76.

With increasing family income, the prevalence of overweight has risen and become a serious threat to individual health and a major public health challenge in China. This study attempts to shed light on the mechanism of income impact on the adult health outcomes of BMI and overweight through five potential channels: nutritional intakes, dietary diversity, dietary knowledge, food preference, and dining out. Using the panel data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), we investigate the causal relationship between income and health by considering the changes in the minimum wage as a valid instrument to address the endogeneity problem of income in health estimation. The results indicate that rising income increases the adults’ BMI and the propensity to be overweight; approximately 15.58% and 16.20% of income impact on BMI and overweight could be explained by the five channels considered, respectively. Among the five channels, dietary diversity plays the most significant role in explaining the income impact. We observe significant heterogeneity in income-BMI gradients across various income quantiles and subsamples. Specifically, income-BMI gradients tend to increase along with income percentiles, and income has a significantly positive impact on BMI and overweight for the male sample but it shows no significant impact for the female sample.

 

Wang, Y. (2018). 'Educational and nutritional consequences of education subsidy in rural China.' China Economic Review 51: 167-180.

This paper investigates the effects of the most widespread education subsidy—the “two waivers, one subsidy” policy—on school enrollment and nutrition intake among rural children from needy families in China. Using the difference-in-difference identification strategy and data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, we find this policy was quite influential for poor children of junior high school age, increasing their school enrollment by 11 percentage points. When stratified by gender, the influence was found limited to male students. Besides, the subsidy increased the calorie and fat intake among junior high school-aged children, suggesting that part of the savings from the education expenses was transferred to food expenses.

 

Yang, M. (2018). 'Demand for social health insurance: Evidence from the Chinese New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme.' China Economic Review 52: 126-135.

This paper assesses the determinants of the enrolment in the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS), a heavily subsidized voluntary health insurance scheme in rural China. The analyses focus on the relationship between insurance purchase and health facility choice based on data drawn from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). The results show that households from villages that reported use of village clinics are more likely to be insured compared with households from villages that reported use of county hospitals. The results indicate that the perception of quality of care is an important factor affecting people's enrolment decisions. The NRCMS is expected to help patients obtain better quality health services from higher-tier of the healthcare system that are unaffordable otherwise. However, given the prevailing fee-for-service payment mechanism for health care, the insurance may also drive up the healthcare cost and direct patients to use more expensive and unnecessary hospital care.