Does The New Rural Social Pension Program Improve The Quality Of Life Of Rural Elderly Residents?

This paper uses the two-year panel data of 2008 and 2011 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey(CLHLS)to study impacts of the New Rural Social Pension Program(NRSPP)on the quality of life(QoL)of rural elderly residents.Unlike most previous studies,this paper examines different aspects of QoL of the elderly using comprehensive QoL indexes,including family status,food consumption,frequency of participations in leisure activities,mental health and the subjective sense of satisfaction.In order to minimize impacts of issues such as endogeneity and meet the common trend hypothesis as well,we use the PSM-DID method,that is,we estimate pension impacts using the DID method,on the basis of the propensity score matching(PSM)results of samples.Meanwhile,heterogeneity analyses are conducted as well in order to make sure whether policy impacts of the NRSPP are the same among the insured with various ages or family incomes.This paper has the following outcomes:First,from the perspective of the QoL index,the NRSPP pension did improve overall quality of life of the old insured in rural areas.Second,as for different items and variables reflecting QoL,the participation rates of some leisure activities had significantly improved for the old insured,and the mental health conditions as well as subjective sense of satisfaction among those insurers had improved as well.However,we found no evidence to support the view that the NRSPP pension had any impacts on family status of the rural elderly and their diets as well.Third,based on the mechanism of the NRSPP affecting QoL,the pension earnings partly crowded out intergenerational payments from sons and daughters and labor incomes of the rural elderly,which reduced stimulating effects of the NRSPP on private consumption.In addition,because of the Confucian culture of filial piety,family status of the rural elderly was hardly affected by economic conditions.Moreover,the increased frequency of participations in leisure activities,the reduced earning pressure and the lower economic dependence on juniors helped to improve mental health and life satisfaction of the elderly.Lastly,heterogeneous impacts of the NRSPP existed among the old insured with different ages or earnings.The NRSPP pension worked better among those aged 84 and above than those between 60 and 84,and those low-income insurers(with annual household earnings less than 8000)always benefited more from the NRSPP than those with relatively high incomes(annual household earnings equal to or more than 8000).