Xianbo Zhou

A comparative study on the health care and medical service consumption of urban and rural households in China

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a nonparametric comparative study on the HCMS consumption of urban and rural households in China. Design/methodology/approach - This paper applies the panel data for Chinas thirty provinces in 1991-2007 as a sample and presents a local linear estimation to the nonparametric Working-Leser panel data models on the HCMS consumption of the rural and urban households in China. The nonparametric Hausman test is applied to test the random effects specification against the fixed effects. Findings - Both the parametric and nonparametric estimation of the Working-Leser panel data models give us a similar result: that the HCMS commodity is quite elastic in both the rural and urban China. Nonparametric estimate also shows that the urban-rural difference of the HCMS expenditure share in the total expenditure is mainly due to the large urban-rural difference of total expenditure. Under the same total expenditure, the HCMS is more elastic in the urban than in the rural regions. Practical implications - To decrease the urban-rural difference in the HCMS consumption, the government should enhance the income or total expenditure level of the rural households, especially in the impoverished and remote areas in China. Urbanization plays a critical role in access to health care and can help make substantial changes in rural health care in China. Originality/value - Compared to the parametric estimation, the nonparametric estimation gives us the added information that the expenditure elasticity of the HCMS consumption in China gradually declines as one moves up the per capita total expenditure distribution. The paper could make a contribution to the relatively thin literature on the Chinese medical and health consumption market.

The impact mechanism of social networks on Chinese rural–urban migrant workers’ behaviour and wages:

Chinese domestic rural–urban migrant workers have played a substantial role in economic development since the late 1970s. This article makes an attempt to establish a two-period hiring model interpreting the impact mechanism of social networks on migrant workers’ wages. The findings indicate that the extension of social networks of both firms and workers facilitates a decrease in the information gap between them and improves extra common benefits to both.

The Impact of Social Capital on Wages of Rural Migrants and its Gender Difference in China

The objective of this article is to study the impact of social capital on the wages of Chinese rural migrants and the gender difference of the effect. The empirical results show that both “bridging” and “bonding” social capital have positive effects on wages, but “bridging” has a more significant effect. Friendly relationships between migrants and local workers can help the migrants increase the probability of earning upper middle to high wages by 6.4%. Migrants whose jobs are introduced by friends or relatives have over 1.6% higher probabilities of earning a upper middle to high wage. In addition, gender differences exist in the social capital effect on wage. The “bridging” effect on male migrants’ wage is significantly larger than the effect on female migrants’ wage, while the “bonding” effect on female’s wage is larger than the effect on male’s wage. Some policy implications are discussed.

The Impact of Openness and Domestic Performance on Growth Using Nonparametric Estimation

This article distinguishes openness from domestic performance as different growth determinants and uses nonparametric estimation to reveal their direct effects on GDP. On average, openness promotes growth, but its effect on growth is negative when the levels of openness and domestic performance both are very low. The effect of domestic performance on growth is always positive averagely and locally, but its effect on growth is decreasing when the economy experiences the initial stage of globalization and domestic performance. Our result makes a useful contribution to the globalization debate because the distinction between openness and domestic performance shows how different economies can perform and improve in each aspect. Among the developing economies, openness is a necessary and prerequisite condition for growth, but the achievement of a high level in domestic performance is also important for growth.

A Nonparametric and Semiparametric Analysis on Inequality and Development: Evidence from OECD and Non-OECD Countries

Abstract This paper studies the income inequality and economic development relationship by using unbalanced panel data of OECD and non-OECD countries (regions) for the period 1962-2003. The nonparametric estimation results show that income inequality in OECD countries is almost on the backside of the inverted-U relationship, while non-OECD countries are approximately on the foreside, except that the relationship in both country groups shows an upturn at a high level of development. Development has an indirect effect on inequality through control variables, but the modes are different in the two country groups. The model specification tests show that the relationship is not necessarily captured by the conventional quadratic function. The cubic and fourth-degree polynomials, respectively, fit the OECD and non-OECD country groups best. Our finding is robust regardless of whether the specification uses control variables. Development plays a dominant role in mitigating inequality.