Migration incentives and elderly health: Evidence from the Hukou reforms in China
Journal of Development Economics · 2027 · Wei Huang、Hai Huang、Haotian Zhang、Wei Zheng
中文摘要
本文研究子女迁移对留守老人结果的影响：消费、经济参与、健康与心理健康。利用省份间既有联系与地区迁移管制放松强度随时间变化之间的交互变异，我们发现，中国内部迁移激励的增强使流向农村家庭的汇款增加，从而提升了留守老人的消费并减少了其务农劳动。本文还表明，这些未迁移老年人群的医疗服务利用和身体健康得到改善。然而，子女迁移也带来了一个潜在弊端：老年人心理福祉出现小幅下降，这可能源于迁移子女在非正式照护与陪伴方面的缺失。这些发现揭示了内部迁移如何影响发展中国家老年人的健康与经济福祉。（JEL I15, J18, O18, P25, P36, R23）
Abstract
This paper studies the impact of child migration on outcomes of elders who stay behind: consumption, economic participation, health, and mental health. Exploiting variation from the preexisting ties between provinces interacted with the time-varying intensity of regional migration deregulation, we find that increased incentives for internal migration in China resulted in more remittances to rural households, boosting consumption and reducing farm work among the elderly who stay behind. The paper also shows improved healthcare utilization and physical health in these non-migrating elderly populations. However, child migration came with a potential downside: the modest decline in the mental well-being of elderly individuals, possibly due to a lack of informal care and companionship from migrated children. These findings show how internal migration impacts the health and economic wellbeing of elderly individuals in developing countries. (JEL I15, J18, O18, P25, P36, R23)