January 2026
30Jan

Pension Schemes, Healthcare Use, and Health: Evidence from China

By Zeen He Using a non-parametric fuzzy regression discontinuity design and leveraging data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this paper explores the impact of public and private pension schemes on health service utilization and health outcomes among urban and rural individuals in China. Our estimates show that receipt of public pensions, particularly the Urban Employee Pension Scheme (UEPS) and Public Employee Pension Scheme (PEPS), significantly improves selfreported health, mental health (CES-D scores), and physical health (ADL...

January 30, 2026
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19Jan

China’s birth rate hits record low as population continues to shrink

China's birth rates sunk to a record low in 2025, despite the government rolling out a spate of incentives to boost it, as the country's population fell for the fourth straight year. Government data on Monday showed that the country's birth rate fell to 5.63 per 1,000 people – a record low since the Communist Party took power in 1949 – while its death rate rose to 8.04 per 1,000 people, the highest since 1968. Its population fell 3.39 million to...

January 19, 2026
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16Jan

How our fear of aging is speeding it up

After I turned 60 last October, I became consumed with thoughts of mortality. I worried that I was now on a fast track toward ill health, retirement blues and forgetful conversations filled with non-sequiturs. It’s not hard to see why. In 2023, the American Psychological Association wrote that “ageism is one of the last socially acceptable prejudices” in American culture. From shelves lined with anti-aging products, to punchlines about getting older to workplace bias, the message is clear: entering...

January 16, 2026
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15Jan

Without pension reform, China is leaving its rural elderly out in the cold

“Rural heating problems in Hebei cannot wait any longer” declared a recent report in Farmers’ Daily. It described a disturbing reality in parts of northern China: elderly villagers who would rather shiver through freezing temperatures than turn on their heaters, because they simply cannot afford the cost. For many urban readers, this may sound implausible. For millions of rural elderly, it is routine. On the surface, the problem appears to be a side effect of China’s well-intentioned environmental reforms. Beginning...

January 15, 2026
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14Jan

China’s one child policy ended 10 years ago but birth rates remain low

This month marks 10 years since China ended its one-child policy in order to address an aging population and a shrinking workforce. The government eventually removed all limits on how many children couples can have. But cultural and economic changes mean families in China now prefer fewer children, leaving the government to figure out ways to encourage larger families, including a new contraceptive tax that began this month. So where does the country go from here? Cindy Yu is...

January 14, 2026
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12Jan

China’s Private Pensions Draw Massive Interest, But Why Do Contributions Lag?

It has been one year since China fully implemented its private pension system. Data shows that the number of accounts has exceeded 150 million, with strong interest in account openings, but the actual contribution rate remains below 20%. China is expanding its private pension system to ease mounting pressure on its retirement framework as the population ages. While the basic public pension provides broad coverage, rising demographic stress and limited supplementary options have exposed structural gaps. The basic pension remains the system’s backbone,...

January 12, 2026
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08Jan

Refining longevity risks for China’s ageing population

Just like every dark cloud has a silver lining, insurers are proficient at managing risks and turning them into opportunities. As an ageing population has become a pressing issue around the globe, the booming demand for insurance and annuities presents considerable potential. China, one of the fastest-ageing countries, is expected to see its personal insurance market expand from four trillion Chinese yuan (US$553 billion) in 2021 to between 6.6 and 12.6 trillion Chinese yuan by 2035, according to the Boston...

January 8, 2026
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December 2025
19Dec

Comparing Socialist Approaches: Economics and Social Security in Cuba, China, and Vietnam

By Carmelo Mesa-Lago In Comparing Socialist Approaches, Carmelo Mesa-Lago examines the two main socialist models across Cuba, China, and Vietnam to compare central planning and socialist markets. Under the Cuban central plan, large state enterprises have been unable to generate economic growth, even with mild structural market reforms and a small controlled private sector. In the Sino-Vietnamese model of a socialist marketplace, dynamic private enterprises of all sizes, together with large state enterprises, operate under a decentralized plan with state regulation and...

December 19, 2025
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19Dec

Public pensions and family dynamics: Eldercare, child investment, and son preference in rural China

By Naijia Guo, Wei Huang & Ruixin Wang Using variations in the timing of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) across rural Chinese counties, we examine its effects on eldercare mode, child investment, and son preference. Our findings are three-fold: (1) After the introduction of NRPS, married sons are less likely to live with and provide care for their parents, while married daughters show no significant change in their caregiving behavior; (2) Parents reduce the brideprice for their sons but not the dowry...

December 19, 2025
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November 2025
28Nov

Retirement Planning among Female Workforce in Malaysia and China

By Jing Yuan, Kim Mee Chong, Ivy Siaw Hung Hii & Hao Lun Li A phenomenon has emerged whereby the life expectancy of women is 74.2 years, and men's is 69.8 years. Hence, it is crucial to encourage early retirement planning among women.  This study aims to explore the factors that influence retirement planning awareness and readiness among women in Malaysia and China. A self-administered online questionnaire was completed by 100 Malaysians and 200 Chinese. Using IBM SPSS and SmartPLS,...

November 28, 2025
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