Who Are the Beneficiaries of China’s New Rural Pension Scheme? Sons, Daughters, or Parents?

By applying a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, this study investigates whether sons, daughters, or parents are the beneficiaries of China’s New Rural Pension Scheme. Using data drawn from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey, our results indicate that pension income crowds out approximately 27.9% of the monetary support from adult sons and decreases the likelihood that adult sons live with their parents by 6.5%. However, we do not find a significant effect of pension income on the likelihood that adult daughters live with their parents. In regards to the well-being of parents, which is measured by consumption and health outcomes, the results show that pension income increases food and non-food consumption by 16.3 and 15.1%, respectively, and improves the psychological health of the elderly. Accounting for the different effects of pension income for those with different income levels, our results show that the New Rural Pension Scheme only has a significant effect on the poor elderly.