Childhood Experience and Expected Sources of Income in Old Age
By Huabin Bian, Fei Jin, Qingfu Liu & Yiuman Tse
This paper uses the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) database to explore the impact of family relationships in childhood (CFR) and economic conditions in childhood (CEC) on awareness of income sources in old age (AOAIS). We find that people whose family relationships in childhood were harmonious have passive AOAIS, whereas those with favorable economic conditions in childhood demonstrate proactive AOAIS. CFR affects AOAIS through family values, while CEC influences AOAIS via financial literacy. Our heterogeneity analysis indicates that improvements in CEC significantly boost AOAIS in rural areas, unlike CFR, which has no urban-rural differences. Additionally, as household income grows and the provision of pensions improves, the impact of CEC on AOAIS intensifies, but its moderating effect on CFR is not significant. This confirms the profound and stable negative impact of harmonious CFR, which may explain the static nature of average AOAIS over time.
Source SSRN
