Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-12-25DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102646
Shiyi Chen , Wenjie Liu , Huanhuan Wang
Motivated by China's broad air pollution and increasing outward investment during the 2010s, we establish that air pollution exposure with its labor erosion drives capital reallocation through outward M&A. We develop a theoretical framework proving that exposure increases outward M&A probability, with a higher technology seeking motive for advanced economies. Leveraging granular PM2.5 data and listed company records, we identify robust exposure effects at both broad and hyperlocal metrics validated by IV and spatial gradients. Crucially, pollution-exposed firms target developed economies for IP and green technologies, generate post-M&A foreign patents, and show amplified responses in labor-intensive sectors and asset-targeted transactions. Our findings reposition environmental constraints as catalysts for globalization through adaptive knowledge acquisition.
{"title":"Air pollution, technology seeking and firms' cross-border M&A","authors":"Shiyi Chen , Wenjie Liu , Huanhuan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102646","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102646","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Motivated by China's broad air pollution and increasing outward investment during the 2010s, we establish that air pollution exposure with its labor erosion drives capital reallocation through outward M&A. We develop a theoretical framework proving that exposure increases outward M&A probability, with a higher technology seeking motive for advanced economies. Leveraging granular PM2.5 data and listed company records, we identify robust exposure effects at both broad and hyperlocal metrics validated by IV and spatial gradients. Crucially, pollution-exposed firms target developed economies for IP and green technologies, generate post-M&A foreign patents, and show amplified responses in labor-intensive sectors and asset-targeted transactions. Our findings reposition environmental constraints as catalysts for globalization through adaptive knowledge acquisition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102646"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145884413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-12-22DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102643
Teng Huang , Cheryl Xiaoning Long
This paper provides novel empirical evidence that stricter patentability requirements improve patent quality based on a quasi-natural experiment-the third amendment to the Chinese Patent Law. The results from difference-in-differences estimation show invention patents meeting absolute novelty are more likely to be cited internationally, renewed, and invalidated less frequently than those with relative novelty. We identify three specific mechanisms through which the stricter patentability requirement exerts its impact on patent quality, including the screening-out effect, where stricter patent approval standards weed out low-quality applications during substantive examination, the self-selection effect, where stricter patentability requirements motivate applicants to select higher-quality inventions in response to the lower probability of patent approval, and the foreign-inflow effect, where the higher standards create more effective patent protection, which attracts more overseas applicants and higher-quality overseas technologies. These findings support the relationship between patentability standards and quality and have implications for patent law reforms in developing countries.
{"title":"Patent quality and patentability requirements: Evidence from the third amendment to the Chinese Patent Law","authors":"Teng Huang , Cheryl Xiaoning Long","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102643","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102643","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper provides novel empirical evidence that stricter patentability requirements improve patent quality based on a quasi-natural experiment-the third amendment to the Chinese Patent Law. The results from difference-in-differences estimation show invention patents meeting absolute novelty are more likely to be cited internationally, renewed, and invalidated less frequently than those with relative novelty. We identify three specific mechanisms through which the stricter patentability requirement exerts its impact on patent quality, including the screening-out effect, where stricter patent approval standards weed out low-quality applications during substantive examination, the self-selection effect, where stricter patentability requirements motivate applicants to select higher-quality inventions in response to the lower probability of patent approval, and the foreign-inflow effect, where the higher standards create more effective patent protection, which attracts more overseas applicants and higher-quality overseas technologies. These findings support the relationship between patentability standards and quality and have implications for patent law reforms in developing countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102643"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145884415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-12-22DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102644
Jiali Tang , Duo Xu , Hongqiao Fu
While the “death of distance” hypothesis predicts diminishing geographic frictions, offline connectivity continues to shape online transactions, as seen in e-commerce and online healthcare. This study exploits China's High-Speed Rail (HSR) introduction as a natural experiment to identify how improved physical accessibility affects the demand for online medical consultations. Using approximately 18 million consultation records from a major Chinese online healthcare platform and a difference-in-differences (DID) design, we find that the HSR introduction increases online consultation volume by 12.09 %. The effect is driven predominantly by cross-city consultations directed to online doctors based in provincial capitals and top medical hubs (e.g., Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou). The impact is particularly pronounced among younger patients, residents in the western region, and medical departments who are more likely to require subsequent in-person hospital visits. Our mechanism analysis shows that the HSR introduction stimulates offline appointment bookings via the platform, especially cross-city appointments and those following online medical consultations. This pattern is consistent with online-offline complementarity, whereby lower expected travel costs for in-person follow-ups encourage patients to initiate online medical consultations. These findings suggest that an integrated online-offline healthcare approach may be more effective than internet-centered solutions in addressing healthcare accessibility and inequality issues.
{"title":"Does high-speed rail development impact online healthcare demand? Evidence from a large medical platform in China","authors":"Jiali Tang , Duo Xu , Hongqiao Fu","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102644","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102644","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While the “death of distance” hypothesis predicts diminishing geographic frictions, offline connectivity continues to shape online transactions, as seen in e-commerce and online healthcare. This study exploits China's High-Speed Rail (HSR) introduction as a natural experiment to identify how improved physical accessibility affects the demand for online medical consultations. Using approximately 18 million consultation records from a major Chinese online healthcare platform and a difference-in-differences (DID) design, we find that the HSR introduction increases online consultation volume by 12.09 %. The effect is driven predominantly by cross-city consultations directed to online doctors based in provincial capitals and top medical hubs (e.g., Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou). The impact is particularly pronounced among younger patients, residents in the western region, and medical departments who are more likely to require subsequent in-person hospital visits. Our mechanism analysis shows that the HSR introduction stimulates offline appointment bookings via the platform, especially cross-city appointments and those following online medical consultations. This pattern is consistent with online-offline complementarity, whereby lower expected travel costs for in-person follow-ups encourage patients to initiate online medical consultations. These findings suggest that an integrated online-offline healthcare approach may be more effective than internet-centered solutions in addressing healthcare accessibility and inequality issues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102644"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145839894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-12-23DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102645
Wenkai Sun , Wenjing Wang , Siyuan Tang , Zhong Zhao
As an important means for firms' burden-lightening and market stimulation, tax reduction is especially crucial for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper examines the wage effects of firm-level tax reduction. Firms' effective tax burden reduction enhanced firm-level surplus as their profitability improved and financial constraints loosened, leading to employees' wages rising, and those having stronger bargaining power benefit more from tax reductions. The difference in substitution costs give high-income employees and employees in management and technical positions stronger bargaining power than others. Therefore, the impact of tax reduction on wages has a Matthew effect and tends to exacerbate inequalities within a firm.
{"title":"Tax reduction, wage bargaining, and income equality: Evidence from China's SMEs","authors":"Wenkai Sun , Wenjing Wang , Siyuan Tang , Zhong Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102645","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102645","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As an important means for firms' burden-lightening and market stimulation, tax reduction is especially crucial for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper examines the wage effects of firm-level tax reduction. Firms' effective tax burden reduction enhanced firm-level surplus as their profitability improved and financial constraints loosened, leading to employees' wages rising, and those having stronger bargaining power benefit more from tax reductions. The difference in substitution costs give high-income employees and employees in management and technical positions stronger bargaining power than others. Therefore, the impact of tax reduction on wages has a Matthew effect and tends to exacerbate inequalities within a firm.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102645"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145839895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-11-17DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102601
Xiao Deng , Shi-Ting He , Xinrui Lin , Junjie Tang
Successful innovations not only hinge on the firm's internal characteristics, but also closely relate to its involvement in supply networks. Unlike most previous studies that focus on the ego network surrounding a focal firm, our study expands the view to the entire nationwide supply network and investigates how a firm's network centrality facilitates its innovations. Leveraging a novel dataset on inter-firm relationships, we trace the evolution of the supply network among Chinese firms from 2007 to 2021. Our analysis demonstrates that firms with higher network centrality tend to devote more efforts to innovation and acquire more innovation outputs. Centrally positioned firms enjoy enhanced access to external financing and valuable information sharing. These advantages have contributed to the recent increase in internal innovation efforts by Chinese firms to mitigate the impact of U.S. economic sanctions.
{"title":"Supply network and firm innovation: Evidence from China","authors":"Xiao Deng , Shi-Ting He , Xinrui Lin , Junjie Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102601","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102601","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Successful innovations not only hinge on the firm's internal characteristics, but also closely relate to its involvement in supply networks. Unlike most previous studies that focus on the ego network surrounding a focal firm, our study expands the view to the entire nationwide supply network and investigates how a firm's network centrality facilitates its innovations. Leveraging a novel dataset on inter-firm relationships, we trace the evolution of the supply network among Chinese firms from 2007 to 2021. Our analysis demonstrates that firms with higher network centrality tend to devote more efforts to innovation and acquire more innovation outputs. Centrally positioned firms enjoy enhanced access to external financing and valuable information sharing. These advantages have contributed to the recent increase in internal innovation efforts by Chinese firms to mitigate the impact of U.S. economic sanctions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102601"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145617082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-12-08DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102635
Weidi Chai , Chunyu Zhang , Yongmei Cui , Xiaohong Ma
In 2024, China's Company Law reinstated stricter paid-in capital rules, reversing the 2013 shift to a subscribed capital system. This study investigates the real economic consequences of the 2013 subscribed capital system on corporate creditors in China. Using a comprehensive panel dataset of A-share-listed firms from 2010 to 2023 and a difference-in-differences (DID) empirical strategy, we find robust evidence that the subscribed capital system significantly weakens creditors' interests. We identify three key channels: weakened creditor protection, deteriorated corporate governance, and distorted capital allocation. The adverse effects are more pronounced in non-state-owned firms, short-term-oriented management, firms with weak banking relationships, and enterprises located in regions with higher government intervention and lower levels of informatization. Furthermore, we provide novel empirical evidence that the subscribed capital system exacerbates over-indebtedness and impairs innovation output, suggesting broader implications for economic dynamism and financial stability.
{"title":"The dark side of capital flexibility: Subscribed capital system reform and creditor interests in China","authors":"Weidi Chai , Chunyu Zhang , Yongmei Cui , Xiaohong Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102635","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102635","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In 2024, China's Company Law reinstated stricter paid-in capital rules, reversing the 2013 shift to a subscribed capital system. This study investigates the real economic consequences of the 2013 subscribed capital system on corporate creditors in China. Using a comprehensive panel dataset of A-share-listed firms from 2010 to 2023 and a difference-in-differences (DID) empirical strategy, we find robust evidence that the subscribed capital system significantly weakens creditors' interests. We identify three key channels: weakened creditor protection, deteriorated corporate governance, and distorted capital allocation. The adverse effects are more pronounced in non-state-owned firms, short-term-oriented management, firms with weak banking relationships, and enterprises located in regions with higher government intervention and lower levels of informatization. Furthermore, we provide novel empirical evidence that the subscribed capital system exacerbates over-indebtedness and impairs innovation output, suggesting broader implications for economic dynamism and financial stability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102635"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102638
Ruochen Dai , Yue Feng , Chengfang Liu , Langrui Li , Lina Zhang , Ketong Zhu
Employment formalization among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains low in developing countries, which weakens job security and social protection. Despite policy efforts, many SMEs evade social insurance obligations, raising concerns about labor rights and economic stability. Using data on 2664 SMEs in the 2018 Enterprise Survey for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China (ESIEC), we document that 48.4 % of SMEs provide no social insurance, while 74.6 % cover only some employees. After controlling for firm characteristics as well as city and industry fixed effects, SMEs led by politically connected entrepreneurs have a 7.1-percentage-point higher probability of providing social insurance than those without such connections. This correlation likely stems from connected entrepreneurs' preferential access to formalization benefits—including formal credit and government procurement contracts—which collectively generate a political-connection premium that incentivizes compliance with labor regulations. These findings suggest that the uneven distribution of such benefits (concentrated among politically connected firms) contributes to the overall low formalization rates in China's SME sector, as most entrepreneurs lack access to these incentives. Moreover, the political-connection premium diminishes in regions with stronger financial inclusion and lower government intervention, suggesting that an improved business environment encourages broader formalization. These findings underscore the importance of policies that decouple formalization benefits from political connections to foster more inclusive labor protection and economic stability.
{"title":"Why do Chinese SMEs avoid formal employment? Political connections and unequal access to formalization benefits1","authors":"Ruochen Dai , Yue Feng , Chengfang Liu , Langrui Li , Lina Zhang , Ketong Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102638","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102638","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Employment formalization among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains low in developing countries, which weakens job security and social protection. Despite policy efforts, many SMEs evade social insurance obligations, raising concerns about labor rights and economic stability. Using data on 2664 SMEs in the 2018 Enterprise Survey for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China (ESIEC), we document that 48.4 % of SMEs provide no social insurance, while 74.6 % cover only some employees. After controlling for firm characteristics as well as city and industry fixed effects, SMEs led by politically connected entrepreneurs have a 7.1-percentage-point higher probability of providing social insurance than those without such connections. This correlation likely stems from connected entrepreneurs' preferential access to formalization benefits—including formal credit and government procurement contracts—which collectively generate a political-connection premium that incentivizes compliance with labor regulations. These findings suggest that the uneven distribution of such benefits (concentrated among politically connected firms) contributes to the overall low formalization rates in China's SME sector, as most entrepreneurs lack access to these incentives. Moreover, the political-connection premium diminishes in regions with stronger financial inclusion and lower government intervention, suggesting that an improved business environment encourages broader formalization. These findings underscore the importance of policies that decouple formalization benefits from political connections to foster more inclusive labor protection and economic stability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102638"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145884412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-10-28DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102586
Dongqin Wang , Minghong Shen , Xiaogang Wu
Non-cognitive skills are a critical component of human capital. This paper investigates the associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and early childhood non-cognitive development, using data from the Survey of Early Education, Development, and Strengths (SEEDS) conducted among kindergarten-aged children in Hangzhou, China. Using a machine learning approach with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE), we identify a high family annual income and parental university education as the strongest indicators linked to non-cognitive skill development. Employing OLS and fixed effects models, we find robust positive associations between these SES factors and children's non-cognitive outcomes. Children from high-income households with university-educated parents exhibit the highest skill levels across domains such as communication, self-regulation, autonomy, and socialization—a pattern of “double advantage.” Our analysis further reveals that parenting styles and financial investments are closely related to these disparities. These findings highlight the need for policies targeting multidimensional SES barriers to mitigate early-life inequalities and promote human capital development and socioeconomic mobility.
{"title":"Socioeconomic status and inequalities in early development of non-cognitive skills: Evidence from China","authors":"Dongqin Wang , Minghong Shen , Xiaogang Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102586","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102586","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Non-cognitive skills are a critical component of human capital. This paper investigates the associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and early childhood non-cognitive development, using data from the Survey of Early Education, Development, and Strengths (SEEDS) conducted among kindergarten-aged children in Hangzhou, China. Using a machine learning approach with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE), we identify a high family annual income and parental university education as the strongest indicators linked to non-cognitive skill development. Employing OLS and fixed effects models, we find robust positive associations between these SES factors and children's non-cognitive outcomes. Children from high-income households with university-educated parents exhibit the highest skill levels across domains such as communication, self-regulation, autonomy, and socialization—a pattern of “double advantage.” Our analysis further reveals that parenting styles and financial investments are closely related to these disparities. These findings highlight the need for policies targeting multidimensional SES barriers to mitigate early-life inequalities and promote human capital development and socioeconomic mobility.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102586"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145685352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102632
Qingshan Ma , Yuqing Han , Mingcong Chen , Feng Hu , Haiyan Zhou
Chronic diseases impose significant burdens on families and society because of high disability rates and costly treatments. Based on data from the 2014–2020 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), this paper considers the establishment of National Demonstration Zones for Comprehensive Chronic Disease Prevention and Control (NDZCCDPCs) as a natural experiment, and explores the impact of this policy on the health of older adults by constructing a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model. The findings indicate that NDZCCDPCs reduces the number of chronic diseases prevalent in older adults by 10.6 %, decreases the probability of ADL difficulty by 2.9 %, and reduces the probability of self-assessed poor health by 3.9 %. NDZCCDPCs achieves these health benefits through mechanisms such as preventive care and behaviors, and healthcare service provision and cost reduction. However, the positive health impact is smaller in areas facing higher fiscal stress, due to crowding-out effects. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive impact is more pronounced among older adults with lower levels of education and rural Hukou, and is more evident in areas with scarce medical resources. Finally, the benefits of establishing NDZCCDPCs outweigh the costs.
{"title":"The impact of a large-scale chronic disease prevention and control program on the health benefits of older adults: Evidence from a natural experiment in China","authors":"Qingshan Ma , Yuqing Han , Mingcong Chen , Feng Hu , Haiyan Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102632","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102632","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Chronic diseases impose significant burdens on families and society because of high disability rates and costly treatments. Based on data from the 2014–2020 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), this paper considers the establishment of National Demonstration Zones for Comprehensive Chronic Disease Prevention and Control (NDZCCDPCs) as a natural experiment, and explores the impact of this policy on the health of older adults by constructing a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model. The findings indicate that NDZCCDPCs reduces the number of chronic diseases prevalent in older adults by 10.6 %, decreases the probability of ADL difficulty by 2.9 %, and reduces the probability of self-assessed poor health by 3.9 %. NDZCCDPCs achieves these health benefits through mechanisms such as preventive care and behaviors, and healthcare service provision and cost reduction. However, the positive health impact is smaller in areas facing higher fiscal stress, due to crowding-out effects. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive impact is more pronounced among older adults with lower levels of education and rural Hukou, and is more evident in areas with scarce medical resources. Finally, the benefits of establishing NDZCCDPCs outweigh the costs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102632"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-12-07DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102633
Dezhuang Hu , Tang Li
This study examines the determinants of mental health among impoverished individuals through the lens of China's Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) policy, a government-led, nationwide, precisely targeted, multifaceted anti-poverty initiative. By employing a methodology of difference-in-differences and utilizing nationally representative data from the China Family Panel Studies, we find that the TPA policy significantly improves mental health among targeted populations. The results remain robust across various robustness checks, underscoring the reliability of our estimates. Heterogeneous analysis indicates that the effects of the TPA policy are particularly substantial for more vulnerable groups, including women, younger individuals, those with lower education levels, and those living in rural regions. Increased labor force participation, augmented household income and expenditure, improved access to healthcare and education, narrowed income disparities, promoted social mobility, and enhanced confidence and trust are found to be the underlying mechanisms. A back-of-the-envelope cost–benefit analysis indicates that the TPA's return on investment from mental health improvements alone is about 5.76 RMB gained per 1 RMB.
{"title":"Targeting mental wellness: Does China's multifaceted poverty alleviation policy bear fruit?","authors":"Dezhuang Hu , Tang Li","doi":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102633","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chieco.2025.102633","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the determinants of mental health among impoverished individuals through the lens of China's Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) policy, a government-led, nationwide, precisely targeted, multifaceted anti-poverty initiative. By employing a methodology of difference-in-differences and utilizing nationally representative data from the China Family Panel Studies, we find that the TPA policy significantly improves mental health among targeted populations. The results remain robust across various robustness checks, underscoring the reliability of our estimates. Heterogeneous analysis indicates that the effects of the TPA policy are particularly substantial for more vulnerable groups, including women, younger individuals, those with lower education levels, and those living in rural regions. Increased labor force participation, augmented household income and expenditure, improved access to healthcare and education, narrowed income disparities, promoted social mobility, and enhanced confidence and trust are found to be the underlying mechanisms. A back-of-the-envelope cost–benefit analysis indicates that the TPA's return on investment from mental health improvements alone is about 5.76 RMB gained per 1 RMB.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48285,"journal":{"name":"中国经济评论","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102633"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145737285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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