Education and Ageing in China

Abstract

Did historical access to education, or lack thereof, make Chinese seniors' perception of themselves unique as compared to their counterparts across the world? We consider the impacts of idiosyncratic institutional development, particularly in terms of access to formal education, on objective and subjective aging in China. Using as a 2018 survey of 6118 elderly Chinese, we use Instrument variable stragety to endogenously identify and generate three composite latent factors representing objective cognitive ability, subjective self-evaluation of health and wellbeing, and incidence of age-related ailments. We define two linear simultaneous equations representing subjective and objective successful aging to find that Chinese seniors maintain an observable distinction between the two. We further observe the consequences of China's historical lack of access to formal education amongst this age group and its impact on their aging. Our results demonstrate the importance of multidimensional evaluation of aging as well as identifies the potential impact of promoting lifelong learning as a Chinese policy response. We suggest that government recognize the value of cognitive rehabilitation to compensate for the insufficient educational opportunities when young.Wenxuan Zhong, Raul Barret