Abstract
During economic reform, Chinese economic labor markets became segmented by state sector associated with a planned redistributive economy and private sector associated with the market economy. By considering an economic sector as a concrete institutional setting in post-reform China, this paper compares the extent to which socioeconomic status, measured by education and income, is associated with self-rated health between state sector and private sector. The sample is limited to urban Chinese employees between the ages of 18 and 55 who were active in the labor force. By analyzing pooled data from the 1991–2006 Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey, I find that there is a stronger association between income and self-rated health in the private sector than in the state sector. This study suggests that sectoral differences between market and redistributive economies are an important key to understanding health inequalities in post-reform urban China.
Highlights
The association between social status and health, namely social disparities in health, is well established
During economic reform, Chinese economic labor markets became segmented by state sector associated with a planned redistributive economy and private sector associated with the market economy
This study suggests that sectoral differences between market and redistributive economies are an important key to understanding health inequalities in post-reform urban China
Summary
The association between social status and health, namely social disparities in health, is well established. Link and Phelan [2] conceptualized socioeconomic status (SES) as a fundamental cause of health disparities because SES embodies “accesses to resources that help individuals avoid diseases and their negative consequences through a variety of mechanisms.”. Some cross-national comparison studies further show that strength of the relationship between SES and health varies by institutional contexts [3]. The general finding of the comparison study is that there is a stronger SES-health association in countries with more free–market institutional systems (e.g., United States) and a weaker association in countries with a set of welfare redistribution institutions (e.g., Iceland, Canada, England, Germany) [3,4]. A similar distinction exists in transitional China, characterized by sharp differences in economic institutions between the state and private sectors
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