Supply Of Rural Old-age Service:a Study Based On The Perspective Of Governmental Responsibilities

The aging of population is one of the fundamental realities of China in the 21st Century.Under the background of aging of population and aging of the aged,the problems of how to take care of the old people in rural areas,especially those empty-nesters and left-behind elderly have become increasingly outstanding and serious.Whether the rural old-age service relevant to old people attendance is properly dealt with has a direct connection with social stability and development.It can also influence the implementation of scientific outlook on development as well as the all-around construction of a moderately prosperous society.In recent years,China has issued a series of policy papers related to old-age service construction and increased its financial investment in elder-care homes.However,the problem of empty-bed rate has appeared in rural elder-care institutions and lasted for many years,which seems to become a "Policy Paradox" in a society where aging of population has become increasingly serious,demands for old-age service has become severely increased and resources for old-age service are lacking.The“Policy Paradox”proves that the current supply policies of old-age service fail to meet the actual demands of its target group.Reform practice of social policies and welfare at all times and in all countries has shown that proper positioning of governmental responsibilities is the premise and key point for the social welfare system to develop in a healthy and sustainable way.At the same time,it is a key point for the supply policy of rural old-age service which also involves coordination of the relations between the government and families,communities,markets,etc.Therefore,what are the responsibilities that the government should take with regard to old-age service supply and how to decide governmental responsibilities to secure efficient supply of old-age service are both important and difficult parts for realizing efficient supply of old-age service.Positioning of governmental responsibilities becomes particularly important under the background of a rapidly advancing urbanization process and the phenomenon of "age before it gets rich".Following the basic logic of discovering problems,discussing theories,investigating the present situation and providing advice,this dissertation focuses on the research question of“why supply of rural old-age service fails to match its demands?”and analyzes the following questions:What kind of product does the old-age service belong to?How many types does it include?What's the standard of efficient old-age service?What are the responsibilities that the government should take for the supply of rural old-age service?What's the current responsibilities of the government and what are the effects as well as results it causes?What's the situation of supply of rural old-age service at present?What are the demands and preferences of old people in rural areas for the old-age service?What causes such results?By choosing a typical province——A Province as an example,this dissertation tries to find answers,the main parts of the dissertation,to the previous questions.First,build a model of old-age service analyses.The dissertation combines relevant theoretical knowledge of Public Products Theory and Social Support Network Theory together to build a disaggregated cross model of the old-age service which is divided into four types:family supporting service,community service for the aged,Social Service Institutions for the aged(the government pays the bill)and Social Service Institutions for the aged(individuals pay the bill).Determining the nature of the old-age service and the main body of the supply according to this model is the logical starting point as well as the common thread of the whole dissertation.Second,make theoretical analyses of the supply of old-age service and governmental responsibilities.This dissertation suggests that efficient supply should be judged by whether the demands of the policy targeted group are satisfied.It discusses the relationship between supply of old-age service and governmental responsibilities in the cross model.From a theoretical perspective,to secure efficient supply of old-age service,the governmental responsibilities should cover all the four aspects of family supporting service,community service for the aged,Social Service Institutions for the aged(the government pays the bill)and Social Service Institutions for the aged(individuals pay the bill).The governmental responsibilities should be adjusted according to changes of the policy targeted group's demands so that all types of old-age service can be covered.Besides,governmental responsibilities can in turn affect supply of old-age service.Third,position the current governmental responsibilities and evaluate supply of rural old-age service at present.To find out the influence of orientation of current governmental responsibilities on the supply of rural old-age service,the author collects relevant policy documents,investigates and summarizes the current orientation of governmental responsibilities for old-age service from the three aspects of policy value,policy target and policy tool by using content analysis of public policy,analyzes the current supplying situation of the four types of old-age service according to the data and materials collected from surveys and interviews,and finally makes an evaluation of the current governmental responsibilities of supplying rural old-age service.Four,evaluate demands of rural old-age service.Through the analysis of data got from field research,rural elders' demands and preferences are seen.By choosing three variables,including the individual characteristics of old people in rural areas(sex,age,education level,income,health condition,etc.),their family characteristics(marital status,surviving sons and surviving daughters)and regional features,the author uses Binary Logistic Regression Model to analyze factors that affect rural elders' willingness for social pension.Five,based on the results of theoretical research and empirical analysis,provide choices of policies to realize efficient supply of rural old-age service.The author confirms rural elders' demands for old-age service through comparing supply of rural old-age service with the demands,points out orientation of governmental responsibilities and provides relevant policy suggestions according to the results of theoretical research and empirical analysis.The main points of this dissertation are as follows:1.Old-age service can be divided into four types:family supporting service,community service for the aged,Social Service Institutions for the aged(the government pays the bill)and Social Service Institutions for the aged(individuals pay the bill).In accordance with different types of old-age service,suppliers and nature of the products vary which require different governmental responsibilities.Meanwhile,the orientation of governmental responsibilities in reality affects supply of old-age service in turn,which means that reasonable orientation will promote the supply and vice versa.2.One of the standards to judge efficient supply of rural old-age service is whether demands of the policy targeted group are satisfied.Efficient supply requires that the orientation of governmental responsibilities fits the demands of the policy targeted group.Although resources provided by relevant policies are limited,rural elders' demands and preferences towards different types of old-age service vary.Therefore,government should undertake its due obligations in accordance with such demands and preferences.3.At present,the orientation of governmental responsibilities mainly focuses on supplying resources to institutional old-Age care and community nursing service,while the development of family supporting service has received very little attention.As a result,conflicts appear between supply and demands of old-age service in reality.Through the research approach of“policy value——policy target——policy tool”,the dissertation summarizes the current orientation of governmental responsibilities for the supply of rural old-age service,i.e.,mainly focusing on institutional old-Age care and community nursing service,which brings many difficulties to the supply of all the four types of old-age service.4.The majority of old people in rural areas tend to choose family attendance.The rest of them prefer community nursing service and institutional old-age care,which mainly influenced by the four variables of age,personal annual income,health condition and number of surviving sons.Evaluation of demands shows that nearly 80%of rural elders prefer family attendance while the rest 20%of them choose community nursing service and institutional old-Age care.According to the data,age and personal annual income have positive impact on demands for social old-age care.In rural areas,one's demand towards social old-age care increases as his age grows or his annual income increases.Health condition and number of surviving sons have negative impact on demands for social old-age care.In rural areas,one's demands towards social old-age care decreases as his health condition becomes worse or the number of his sons increases.5.At present,among the supply policies of rural old-age service,the orientation of governmental responsibilities fails to fit the demands of rural elders.To achieve efficient supply of rural old-age service,governmental responsibilities should cover the four aspects of family supporting service,community service for the aged,Social Service Institutions for the aged(the government pays the bill)and Social Service Institutions for the aged(individuals pay the bill).The orientation of governmental responsibilities should be adjusted according to willingness and preferences of rural elders' old-age service demands,so is the coordination of supply and development of the four types of old-age service.To be specific,the relevant policies should include:make policies to support families with elders,combine all the rural community forces together to build an effective social support network,strengthen the governmental responsibilities for the supply of Social Service Institutions for the aged(the government pays the bill)and perfect support and subsidized policy for private-run service organizations for the elderly.