Research On The Impact Of Urban-rural Inversion Of Population Aging On Urban-rural Income Gap

Statistics show that the proportion of the population aged 65 and above in China has reached 14.2% of the total population in 2021,and China has entered a moderately ageing society.At the same time,due to various factors such as rural labour mobility,the ageing of China’s rural population is higher than that of urban areas,and the phenomenon of urban-rural inversion of population ageing has emerged,and the inversion is intensifying year by year.At this critical period of demographic and socio-economic transformation and development,theoretical research on the socio-economic effects of the urban-rural inversion of population ageing should become an important concern for academics.From the perspective of China’s urban-rural dual structure,it is of great theoretical and practical value to explore the specific impact of the urban-rural inversion of population ageing on the urban-rural income gap.Based on a systematic review of relevant research results at home and abroad,this paper clarifies the mechanism of the interaction between the urban-rural inversion of population ageing and the urban-rural income gap,and empirically analyses the specific impact of the urban-rural inversion of population ageing on the urban-rural income gap using provincial-level panel data in China from 2000 to 2020,while examining the heterogeneous impact of the urban-rural inversion of population ageing on the urban-rural income gap from different perspectives.Accordingly,corresponding policy recommendations are put forward.The results of the study show that under certain conditions,the urban-rural inversion of population ageing in China has a significant negative effect on the urban-rural income gap,i.e.the greater the urban-rural inversion of population ageing,the smaller the urban-rural income gap.The regression results of the control variables show that the level of economic development,government fiscal expenditure and the level of urbanisation all have a significant converging effect on the urban-rural income gap.The effect is also heterogeneous,with negative regression coefficients for the East,Central and West regions,but insignificant coefficients for the West region;the urban-rural inversion of population ageing significantly reduces the urban-rural income gap in the high social security gap group,and has a smaller convergence effect in the low social security gap group.Endogeneity and robustness tests indicate that the above empirical results are plausible.Based on the above research,this paper proposes relevant policy recomme ndations to adapt to the demographic transition and narrow the urban-rural inco me gap in terms of human capital,social security,ageing needs,family support and regional differences.