Three essays on migration, health insurance and pension policies in China

Abstract

This thesis consists of three essays that analyze the impact of public policies on individual labor supply and health outcomes in China. The policies considered in this thesis include migration, public health insurance, and pension policies. Modern microeconometric techniques are applied to study a range of outcomes including female labor supply, informal care provision, and elderly health status. The essays share two key themes: (i) rapid population aging in China is one of the main motivations for the research and (ii) each essay accounts for the strong intergenerational relations in Chinese families and models the impact on several generations.

The first essay investigates the effect of adult children's labor migration on the health of their elderly parents in rural China. An instrumental variable strategy is used to account for the potential endogeneity in children's migration decisions. The results show a positive effect of children's migration on elderly parents' health. Children's migration increases their parents' ability to perform activities of daily living and increases their mental health scores.

The second essay studies the impact of a new public health insurance policy on women's informal caregiving to older parents and their labor supply. The New Cooperative Medical Scheme has significantly decreased demand for informal care by the elderly, resulting in an increase in the working hours of working-age adult daughters/in-law.

The third essay analyzes the effects of parental retirement on women's time allocation, fertility timing, and labor supply through intergenerational time transfer. China's mandatory retirement eligibility age is used as an exogenous variation for retirement. The results show that maternal retirement increases the employment rate of women with children. Women are also more likely to give birth when they anticipate their mother's retirement.

Overall, the findings of the thesis provide important directions for further policy reforms in China. The Chinese government should continue to reform the household registration (hukou) system and improve social security programs for rural-urban migrants. Public health care and pensions systems for the rural population should also be improved. Furthermore, childcare services need to be developed if the government wants to increase female labor force participation.