Richer and healthier? Social pensions and unhealthy consumption behaviour in China

Replication files for \"Richer and healthier? Social pensions and unhealthy consumption behaviour in China\" Abstract: \"Based on a life course utility model that incorporates healthy and unhealthy, short-run and long-run consumption behaviour of consumers, this study examines the unintended impact of social pensions on the smoking behaviours of the rural elderly and its underlying channels. Using China’s New Rural Pension Scheme as a policy experiment, our empirical identification rests on nonparametric fuzzy regression discontinuity to address the endogeneity problem of receiving a pension. Overall, the results indicate that receiving a pension decreases the probability of smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked. We demonstrate that the most important channel is the increase in income following the pension transfer which makes consumers value more the future utility, instead of substituting smoking with food, which is healthier. The positive health impact of social pensions is more salient for elderly individuals who are relatively poor or who have a longer life expectancy.”