| Title | Health shocks, village elections, and household income: Evidence from rural China |
| Authors | Zhang, Jing Gan, Li Xu, Lixin Colin Yao, Yang |
| Affiliation | Renmin Univ China, Sch Finance, China Financial Policy Res Ctr, Beijing 100872, Peoples R China. Texas A&M Univ, Dept Econ, College Stn, TX 77843 USA. NBER, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA. World Bank, Res Grp, Washington, DC 20433 USA. Peking Univ, China Ctr Econ Res, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China. Renmin Univ China, Sch Finance, China Financial Policy Res Ctr, 59 Zhongguancun St, Beijing 100872, Peoples R China. |
| Keywords | Health shocks Village governance Farmers' income GRASS-ROOTS DEMOCRACY LOCAL GOVERNANCE CONSUMPTION INSURANCE NUTRITION REFORM CARE |
| Issue Date | 2014 |
| Publisher | china economic review |
| Citation | CHINA ECONOMIC REVIEW.2014,30,155-168. |
| Abstract | Using a sample of 1185 households in 48 Chinese villages for the period 1987-2002, we study the effects of major health shocks on household income and the role played by village elections in mitigating these effects. Major health shocks are defined by abnormal increases in a household's medical expenditure. Our results show that a major health shock reduces households' net income significantly and that village elections alleviate such adverse impacts by almost half. The main mechanism behind this effect is increased coverage of health care insurance, which helps households smooth their consumption when major health shocks happen. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc. |
| URI | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/260349 |
| ISSN | 1043-951X |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.chieco.2014.06.006 |
| Indexed | SSCI |
| Appears in Collections: | 国家发展研究院 |
