健康是人力资本的重要组成部分,城镇化对居民健康的影响是推进"人的城镇化"过程中的一个重要问题。一方面,城镇化提高了人们的收入,使更多的人可以获得充足的营养和先进的医疗设施,对健康有正面作用。另一方面,城镇化带来医疗资源的拥挤、医疗价格的上升及环境污染,则可能对健康产生负面影响。本文利用宏观统计数据和多个有代表性的微观调查数据研究发现,居民所在地的城镇化水平越高,城镇户籍居民、农村居民以及省内农民工的综合健康水平都越低。本文进而从收入、医疗卫生和环境污染这几个角度进一步分析了可能的影响机制。城镇化对健康的负面效果在整体上超过了因收入增加、营养改善、医疗设施增加等带来的正面影响,这是值得注意的发现...

The support for the elderly is facing big challenges with the problem of population aging. Transfers from adult children could partly insure elderly parents against low income and high medical expenditure. There are two main motives for transfers in the literature, namely altruism and exchange. By using data from a new household survey of people aged 45 years and above in China, we estimate the transfer derivatives with the adjustment of medical expenditure in elderly parents' income. We find a large negative impact of adjusted income on transfers at the lower end of income distribution, which is consistent with the altruistic motive. Evidence on the exchange motive is found only for sons, but not for daughters. In addition, there is evidence on the 'exchange-for-service' motive, which interprets transfer as a payment to parents' family services, such as taking care of grandchildren.

社会流动性减弱已成为中国社会的重要问题,具体表现为收入的代际流动性降低、职业的代际传递固化。本文将综合分析社会流动性减弱的原因,除了考察收入和职业的代际传递,还将对教育、政治身份等广义人力资本的代际传递问题进行分析。本文发现,父亲的收入对子女的收入有显著的正向影响,而且这种代际传递趋势在不断加强。造成这种现象的主要原因在于人力资本的代际传递趋势不断加强,具体表现为教育和职业选择的代际传递趋势加强。

Housing price has increased dramatically in China during the past decade. The appreciation of house value could relax credit constraint and thus encourage entrepreneurship. However, a house serves as both an important investment channel and a prerequisite for marriage in China. The continuous high return of investment in housing and intensified marriage market competition make house purchase a priority for young people and their parents, which would crowd out entrepreneurial activities. Using two large datasets, we find that high housing price in general discourages entrepreneurial activities for urban adults. For house owners, while house value appreciation has a positive wealth effect, the ratio of mortgage over income has a negative effect. For non-owners, a higher ratio of housing price over income corresponds to a lower probability of entrepreneurship. This study highlights the negative consequences of surging housing price on entrepreneurship in developing countries.