The Impact Of Differences Between Subjective And Objective Relative Income On Health Transition Among The Population In Middle And Old Age

Population ageing has become a concern in China.To relieve the economic pressures caused by changes in population structure and guarantee quality life,a healthy aging trend must be maintained.Therefore,the determinants of health and socioeconomic inequalities in health among the elderly should be studied.This paper reviews the relevant research results firstly.And then,relative income,poverty,health and health transitions have been defined and the mechanism has been analyzed.After that,this paper analyzes the poverty status and health status of middle-aged and old people in China.Subsequently,by using China Health and Retirement Survey Longitudinal Study(CHARLS)data in 2011 and 2015,there are empirical analysis about how objective relative income,subjective relative income and differences between those two relative incomes affecting health transitions of the elderly.There are some findings :Firstly,the effect of subjective relative income on health changes is always significant.When choosing self-report health and mental health as health measures,objective relative income measured by per capita household wealth has the most significant effect on health transitions.While,when choosing ADL as health measures,objective relative income measured by per capita household total income has the most significant effect on health transitions.Secondly,choosing per capita household wealth as the measure of objective relative income,taking improvement of self-report health as an example,subjective and objective relative income both have impacts on health improvement and the impact of subjective relative income is greater.The impact of subjective relative income on the health improvement of urban middle-aged and elderly people is greater than that of rural middle-aged and elderly people.The impact on the health improvement of elderly people over the age of 60 is greater than that of 45-60 year old.Thirdly,choosing per capita household wealth as the measure of objective relative income,taking improvement of self-report health as an example,differences between objective and subjective relative income have significant effects on health transitions and these effects vary by residence,gender and age.Finally,according to those findings,some policy suggestions have been made.