Research Of Chinese Rural Residents’ Expenses On Human Relationship

This paper take the expenses on the human relationship of China’s rural residents as a researchobject. We set up the censored regression models using micro-data of China Health and NutritionSurvey from2000to2006.These models contain the motivation of comparison in order to seek forsocial status and face, the income gap, household income and other control variables. We can makesome conclusions as follows: Firstly, in order to seek for social status and face the motivation ofcomparisons can effectively promote the expenses on the human relationship. The expenses on thehuman relationship will increase by0.60%when the average expenses on human relationship ofvillage raise1%. Secondly, as the income level raising, the promoting effect of seeking for socialstatus and face presents decreasing trend. This expenses of poor families will increase by0.61%when the average expenses on human relationship raise1%. The rich families will increase by0.57%in the same circumstances. Thirdly, to the expenses on human relationship the enlargementof income gap has a certain negative effects. However，this inhibition only has effect on low-incomegroups.Fourthly, the larger of the income gap,the promoting effect of comparison on expenses onrelationship is smaller. But this does not mean that the enlargement of income gap is beneficial foralleviating human spending. The income gap merely has inhibition to the peer of the low-incomegroup through the liquidity constraints. For the high income groups, the income gap is invalid forcomparison motives.The empirical analysis of this paper provides a micro-level explanation for the increasing ofthe expenses on the human relationship. The motivations of seeking for a higher level about socialstatus and face-assertion through comparison become the driving force for the increasing of thisexpenses. As a result of the continuous expansion of the income gap, the disparity of the socicalstatus between people is gardually expanding. In order to obtain social recognition,people began toincrease the expenses on the human relationship. In addition, Chinese always pay much attention toface-assertion.In order to get more face,individual began to compare unrealistically the amount ofthis expenditures with others. Therefore, the motivation of comparison in order to seek for socialstatus and face can be used as one of explainations for the increasing of expenses on humanrelationship in rural areas.