Growing up without health insurance: Evidence from rural China
研究中国新型农村合作医疗制度对儿童长期教育成就的影响，发现早期参保能提高成年后受教育水平，可能通过减轻家庭经济负担和增加营养支出实现。
This paper examines the long-term effects of health insurance on children's educational attainment in a developing country. Utilizing the county-by-county rollout of the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme in rural China, we find that exposure to the health insurance program in early life leads to improved educational attainment in adulthood. Empirical tests suggest that a short-term increase in health care utilization is unlikely to be a potential channel. We provide some evidence for the channel that health insurance reduces household financial burdens and increases household expenditure on children's nutrition.