The Impact Of Income Inequality On The Health Of Rural Residents

National health is an important symbol of national prosperity and national rejuvenation.The "Healthy China 2030" Planning Outline clearly stated that it is necessary to improve people’s health as the core and integrate health into the policy framework.Efforts will be made to improve the health of the people and provide a solid and healthy foundation for the realization of the "two centenary" goals and the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.In the context of implementing the strategy of rural revitalization,the health of farmers has an important impact on social and economic development,especially on agricultural production,making the study of rural residents’ health issues a hot topic in academic research and has important practical significance.With the rapid development of China’s economy,income inequality has gradually become a focus of attention.According to the data released by "Main Data of Chinese Household Survey",China’s Gini coefficient has been above 0.460 in the past two decades.Moreover,according to the cordon of the international Gini coefficient of 0.4,China’s rural income distribution has always been at a high level of inequality.Since income is an important factor affecting health,high levels of income inequality may have an important impact on farmers’ living standards and health.Therefore,it is of great significance to analyze the impact of rural income inequality on the health of rural residents and explore its mechanism of action,which is also the key issue of this paper.First of all,this article combs and summarizes the relevant literature on the relationship between income inequality and individual health,and analyzes the indirect relationship between income inequality,the availability of medical resources,rural public medical care,medical technology spillover effects,and farmer health based on economic theory;Analyze the direct relationship between income inequality and rural residents’ mental health based on psychological theory;analyze the indirect relationship between income inequality and social capital,social environment and farmers’ health based on a sociological perspective.Theoretically,it expounds the mechanism of income inequality affecting farmers’ health,and puts forward the main hypothesis that income inequality affects farmers’ health accordingly.Secondly,this article uses Main Data from the Chinese Household Survey,China Statistical Yearbook,Chinese General Social Survey(CGSS)in 2015 and Chinese Family Panel Studies(CFPS)in 2010-2018 data to describe China’s rural areas from an objective and subjective perspective.According to the current status of income inequality and the health level of farmers,the data show that the level of income inequality in China’s rural areas is at a relatively high level,and compared with the decline in the national income Gini coefficient,the Gini coefficient in the rural areas has shown an overall upward trend.When objective income inequality exists,low-income farmers can clearly perceive income inequality and the relative deprivation caused by income inequality.Existing data show that the health level and income level of rural residents have not increased at the same time,the mortality rate of cardiovascular disease in rural areas has continued to rise,and the subjective self-evaluation of farmers’ health level is low,and their health status tends to deteriorate.Third,this paper uses the 2010-2018 Chinese Family Panel Studies data to construct panel data,and the regression results are as follows: After fully controlling the nonlinear impact of income on individual health,rural income inequality has a negative impact on the health of rural residents.The higher the level of objective income inequality described by Deaton index,or the higher the degree of subjective income inequality reflected by self-evaluation of social status,the worse the self-evaluated health and mental health of farmers,which will lead to the deterioration of rural residents’ physical health.After adopting instrumental variables to control the two-way causality,the results are still robust.Income inequality has a greater negative impact on the health of men,the elderly,children,non-agricultural workers,and farmers with the lowest income.From the perspective of the impact mechanism,the increase in income inequality is mainly through reducing the availability of medical resources for farmers,increasing the negative emotions of rural residents,and reducing social trust and social capital in social cohesion,which damage individual health..Finally,on the basis of the above theoretical analysis and empirical conclusions,this article proposes policy implications for alleviating China’s rural income inequality and improving farmers’ health in terms of income distribution taxation and transfer payments,public medical supply and allocation,and social cohesion.And on the basis of commenting on the lack of research in this article,a prospect is put forward for further research on income inequality and individual health.