Effects of Socioeconomic Status on Aging People's Health in China

This study investigates the effects of socioeconomic status on health among older adults in China. It uses three waves of the nationally representative Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey conducted in 2005, 2008-2009, and 2011-2012. It explores two dependent dummy variables of self-rated health and functional health and employs subjective and objective measures of socioeconomic status. Based on two-stage fixed-effects linear probability modeling, where potential endogeneity bias is accounted for, this study finds that socioeconomic status positively affects both self-rated health and functional health of Chinese older people. The positive impact holds true across different gender and age groups, but it is sensitive to the choice of health and socioeconomic status measures.