National School of Development, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
School of Economics and Management, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Mar 26;17(7):2234. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17072234.
This paper investigates how the deteriorating health status of an individual affects the marginal utility of non-medical consumption in China. By using 2011, 2013 and 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data, we find that when the number of chronic diseases increases one standard deviation, the marginal utility of consumption will increase by 16.0% and 20.0% for samples of the middle-aged and elderly individuals over 50 and 65 years of age, respectively. This result is to some extent contrary to the findings from the US. Different economic development stages, intergenerational norms and bequest motives may be reasons for these contrasting patterns between China and the US.
本文考察了个体健康状况恶化如何影响中国非医疗消费的边际效用。利用 2011、2013 和 2015 年中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS）数据，我们发现，当慢性病数量增加一个标准差时，50 岁及以上和 65 岁及以上中老年人群体的消费边际效用将分别增加 16.0%和 20.0%。这一结果在一定程度上与美国的研究结果相悖。不同的经济发展阶段、代际规范和遗产动机可能是造成中美两国模式差异的原因。
