Consumption is of great importance in building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality economic development.With the development of China’s economy,the consumption structure of residents has changed significantly,from mainly satisfying their basic living needs such as clothing,food,housing and transportation to focusing more and more on development and enjoyment needs,with the consumption structure gradually upgrading.However,in general,the consumption structure of Chinese residents is still dominated by subsistence consumption,while development and enjoyment consumption account for a relatively low proportion,and the consumption structure needs urgent adjustment.High-quality consumption is not only about increasing the total amount of consumption,but also about upgrading the consumption structure.Therefore,it is necessary to promote the upgrading of the consumption structure on the basis of expanding the scale of consumption and promoting high-quality economic development.At the same time,with the ageing of the population,there is an increasingly large group of elderly consumers,which will have a direct impact on the overall consumption structure of the population.The consumption structure of the elderly population is not only about them,but is also closely related to the elderly and medical services,industrial structure and even economic development,and releasing the consumer demand dividend of the elderly population can add new momentum to economic development.Therefore,it is important to study the consumption structure of the elderly population against the backdrop of the increasing ageing of the population and the continuous restructuring of consumption.Social capital,as a potential resource,plays an important role in the operation of the social economy and also has an impact on the consumption structure of the elderly population.Based on theories related to economics and sociology,this article uses CFPS data from 2012-2018 to analyse the current situation,characteristics and changing trends of the consumption structure of the elderly population and examine the factors influencing the consumption structure of the elderly population.The focus is on how social capital affects the consumption structure of the elderly population and whether it facilitates or hinders the upgrading of the consumption structure of the elderly population.In addition,as capital is transformable,this paper will further examine the interactive effects of social capital,economic capital and human capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population and explore the mediating mechanisms of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population.Finally,based on the above findings,the paper will propose countermeasures that are conducive to the upgrading of the consumption structure of the elderly population,so that the elderly can better participate in the consumption process and promote the realisation of quality ageing.The thesis is structured around the following eight chapters: Chapter 1 is the introduction,which mainly includes the background,purpose and significance of the study,as well as the data used in the whole text,research methods,ideas,contents,innovations and shortcomings.Chapter 2 is a literature review,which focuses on four aspects: the study of the characteristics of the consumption structure of the elderly population,the study of the factors influencing the consumption structure of the elderly population,the study of the influence of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population and the study of the influence of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population,in order to lay the foundation for the subsequent theoretical research.Chapter 3 is the theoretical study,which is divided into three main parts: the first part introduces the consumption structure of the elderly population.On the basis of defining the concepts of elderly population,consumption structure of the elderly population and upgrading of consumption structure of the elderly population,a theoretical analysis of the characteristics and influencing factors of the consumption structure of the elderly population is conducted in conjunction with classical consumption theories such as life-cycle consumption theory and consumer purchase behaviour theory.The second part introduces the social capital of the elderly population.On the basis of defining the concept of social capital and analysing the special characteristics of social capital of the elderly population,a system of indicators of social capital of the elderly population is constructed and the methods of measuring social capital of the elderly population are explained.The third part introduces the influence of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population.This section analyses the influence of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population on the basis of social capital theory,capital transformation theory and consumption stratification theory,and specifically analyses the overall effect,the interaction effect and the mediating effect of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population.Chapter 4 is about the characteristics of the consumption structure and social capital of the elderly population.Chapter 5 is about the overall effect of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population,analysing the overall effect of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population and exploring whether social capital has facilitated or hindered the upgrading of the consumption structure of the elderly population.It compares the heterogeneity of the different dimensions of social capital affecting the consumption structure of the elderly population and the heterogeneity of social capital affecting the consumption structure of different elderly populations.Chapter6 looks at the interactive effects of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population,specifically the interactive effects of social capital and economic capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population and the interactive effects of social capital and human capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population.Chapter 7 explores the mediating effects of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population in terms of potential pathways such as informal financial borrowing,future confidence level,subjective social status and internet use.Chapter 8 presents the conclusions and implications.The main conclusions of this paper include: First,the consumption of the elderly population is mainly subsistence consumption,with a high proportion of subsistence expenditure,a lower proportion of development expenditure and an even lower proportion of enjoyment expenditure.There are differences in the consumption structure of the elderly population between urban and rural areas,different incomes and different age groups.Second,social capital reduces the proportion of survival expenditure,increases the proportion of development expenditure and enjoyment expenditure among the elderly population,which helps to upgrade the consumption structure of the elderly population.As the proportion of subsistence expenditure increases,the role of social capital tends to weaken.The role of social capital tends to strengthen as the proportion of development expenditure and the proportion of enjoyment expenditure increase.Among the three dimensions of social capital,social network has the greatest influence on the consumption structure of the elderly population,followed by reciprocity norms and social trust the least.Among the different elderly populations,social capital has a greater impact on the consumption structure of the urban,eastern,high-income and low-age elderly populations.Third,changes in the consumption structure of the elderly population are the result of the joint action of social capital,economic capital and human capital,but there are some differences in the interactive effects of social capital and different types of economic capital,as well as different types of human capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population.Fourth,informal financial borrowing,level of future confidence,subjective social status and Internet use are the mediating mechanisms through which social capital affects the consumption structure of the elderly population.Fifth,in terms of other influencing factors,the consumption structure of the elderly population is also affected by age,gender,marital status,chronic illness,family size,living arrangement,urban-rural,regional and social insurance.The innovations of this paper are: First,the research perspective is innovative.Social capital as a potential resource has an important role in social and economic operation,and also has an impact on the consumption field.However,the existing literature does not directly examine the influence of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population when analyzing the factors influencing the consumption structure of the elderly population,but analyzes it from the perspective of social activity participation and social network relationship,which is only a part of social capital,and the related mechanism research is even more lacking.This paper uses the entropy value method to measure the comprehensive index of social capital of the elderly population,analyzes the influence of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population and explores its mechanism of action.Second,the theoretical framework is innovative.Based on the social capital theory,capital transformation theory and consumption stratification theory,this paper constructs a theoretical analysis framework of the influence of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population in terms of the overall effect,interaction effect and intermediary effect of social capital on the consumption structure of the elderly population.Third,the research method is innovative.Unlike most studies that classify medical care and health care as development and enjoyment consumption together,this paper takes into account the special characteristics of consumption of the elderly population and distinguishes medical care and health care.Medical care is classified as survival consumption and health care is classified as development consumption,and the consumption structure of the elderly population is divided into categories.In the subsequent empirical analysis,to avoid problems such as sample selfselection and endogeneity,propensity score matching and instrumental variables regression were used to test the robustness of the results,achieving a combination of theory and empirical evidence. |