Impact of Income Growth and Economic Reform on Nutrition Availability in Urban China: 1986–2000
利用1986–2000年中国城市面板数据，研究发现收入增长对卡路里可得性有显著正向影响，但1990年代初食品价格上涨导致贫困群体营养下降，而后续社会福利改革进一步加剧了低收入群体的营养困境。
Urban China has experienced rapid income growth over the past 20 years. However, nutrition availability for the poor declined in the 1990s. Does this imply a zero or negative income elasticity? Using a large representative urban sample of repeated cross‐sectional data for the period 1986–2000, we find that income elasticities of calorie availability are far from zero, and the lower the income level, the higher the income elasticity. The main reason for the reduction in calorie availability in the early 1990s was a sharp increase in food prices. Afterward, calorie availability for the above‐medium‐income groups stabilized and then increased. For the low‐income groups, calorie availability continued to decline, which may be related to the large‐scale social welfare reform that increased households’ need to pay for nonfood necessities, such as education, medical, and housing expenses.