It Takes a Village: Health and Old-Age Support in China

It Takes a Village: Health and Old-Age Support in China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article It Takes a Village: Health and Old-Age Support in China Jaqueline Oliveira, Amanda Kerr This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4646034/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Dec, 2024 Read the published version in Review of Economics of the Household → Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract How do older individuals cope with health impairments and the potential economic losses that ensue? Exploiting longitudinal data on a nationally representative sample of Chinese seniors, we investigate whether and how familial economic support responds to sudden and sizable changes in health. We find that both financial and instrumental support from children go up following a health shock. Furthermore, financial transfers coming from siblings, other relatives and friends increase by a larger percentage than those from children. We also find evidence that instrumental care received from a spouse responds strongly to health shocks. Finally, we find that although labor supply and earned income drop considerably, there is no significant change in non-health expenditure. Our results suggest that households are able to cope with some of the adverse economic impacts of health shocks by relying on support networks that extend beyond their children and grand-children. This is particularly relevant in the context of shrinking family sizes resulting from stringent family planning policies. JEL Classification: D64, J14 Inter-generational transfers Private transfers Old-age support Health Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 20 Dec, 2024 Read the published version in Review of Economics of the Household → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 29 Aug, 2024 Reviews received at journal 28 Aug, 2024 Reviews received at journal 15 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Jul, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 06 Jul, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 29 Jun, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 29 Jun, 2024 First submitted to journal 27 Jun, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4646034","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":326962977,"identity":"0f734788-2568-4fbd-b21a-d2bb4ba8ab80","order_by":0,"name":"Jaqueline Oliveira","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA6ElEQVRIie3PMQuCQBTA8XcI52K4njT4FU6Caqj8KieBLQ1B4HyHoIsfwOhTtDQLgmNzUxRBU4FjQ1AZ1Xg6Bt1/ejzeb3gAKtUvpiMOQAFQzDEAfu2onGgfkmSNyWcgrCExNS0i5Wxna4vLaV8GAxf0cE1kxApRZKV07ojlpOekG9/jRhFICc1R2DEoQ2Lp43YryhmQabee3ChzxaKoyN0F+1xLxBEo80SKK5IhTgw5ef4iDgllY5H42Eo3Yy8y/HlfRkw93mfXGxuu4gKTMhi5pp6vtjLyzeHvATc6r7IbX6pUKtXf9QBOfkHsN6KnbwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Rhodes College","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jaqueline","middleName":"","lastName":"Oliveira","suffix":""},{"id":326962978,"identity":"919756e4-7f55-44b4-91fc-d3c5f8130072","order_by":1,"name":"Amanda Kerr","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Maryland, College Park","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amanda","middleName":"","lastName":"Kerr","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-27 04:59:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4646034/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4646034/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-024-09750-5","type":"published","date":"2024-12-20T15:57:46+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":72201845,"identity":"a656d047-4873-4472-a958-ca5d9f9682dc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-23 16:11:05","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":259125,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ItTakesaVillageHealthandOldAgeSupportinChina.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4646034/v1_covered_5416c120-5fa5-44cb-837d-684c550cd02e.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"It Takes a Village: Health and Old-Age Support in China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"review-of-economics-of-the-household","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"reho","sideBox":"Learn more about [Review of Economics of the Household](http://link.springer.com/journal/11150)","snPcode":"11150","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11150/3","title":"Review of Economics of the Household","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Inter-generational transfers, Private transfers, Old-age support, Health","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4646034/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4646034/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eHow do older individuals cope with health impairments and the potential economic losses that ensue? 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