The Unequal Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Labour Market and Income Inequality in China: A Multisectoral CGE Model Analysis Coupled with a Micro-Simulation Approach

Associations between changes in social contact pattern and the mental health status of Chinese adults: cross-sectional findings

The study aims to examine the associations between social contact pattern changes and mental health status, including depression, anxiety, and loneliness, among Chinese adults in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Data on social contact patterns before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 were obtained from 3511 participants. Mental health (ie, depression, anxiety, and loneliness) was assessed by the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire, Dark Future Scale, and the 9-scale Three-Item Loneliness Scale, respectively. Poisson regression analyses revealed that the participants who had increased in-person communication were more likely to have mental disorders [depression: prevalence ratio (PR)=1.13, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02, 1.26; anxiety: PR=1.15, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.30]. The current study concluded that the in-person communication increase before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 was associated with mental disorders among Chinese adults.

Socio-economic outcomes of COVID-19 on the marginalised: Who have taken the hardest hit?

This article aims to examine the socioeconomic outcomes of COVID-19 for socially marginalised people who are clients of social care organisations (e.g. people experiencing homelessness), and the factors influencing these outcomes. We tested the role of individual and socio-structural variables in determining socioeconomic outcomes based on a cross-sectional survey with 273 participants from eight European countries and 32 interviews and five workshops with managers and staff of social care organisations in ten European countries. 39% of the respondents agreed that the pandemic has had a negative effect on their income and access to shelter and food. The most common negative socio-economic outcome of the pandemic was loss of work (65% of respondents). According to multivariate regression analysis, variables such as being of a young age, being an immigrant/asylum seeker or residing in the country without documentation, living in your own home, and having (in)formal paid work as the main source of income are related to negative socio-economic outcomes following the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors such as individual psychological resilience and receiving social benefits as the main source of income tend to "protect" respondents from negative impacts. Qualitative results indicate that care organisations have been an important source of economic and psycho-social support, particularly significant in times of a huge surge in demand for services during the long-term crises of pandemic.

Changes in Chinese early adolescents' group orientation and mental health from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic

Adolescence is a critical period for formulating and developing value orientations. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically restricted people's lives, potentially leading adolescents to reevaluate what they prioritize in life (i.e., their values) and affecting their mental health. Previous studies suggest that Chinese early adolescents' group orientation is negatively associated with mental health more strongly in rural than in urban, whereas this rural-urban differs may vary after the outbreak of the pandemic. To examine potential changes in group orientation, mental health, and their associations during the pandemic, two cross-sectional surveys of ninth-grade students in the same three school were conducted in rural and urban China in 2019 and 2021. The results showed that compared with students before the pandemic (2019, N = 516, 48.8% girls, M_age = 14.87 years), students during the pandemic (2021, N = 655, 48.1% girls, M_age = 14.80 years) displayed lower group orientation such as group responsibility and rule abiding of rural students, and higher loneliness and depressive symptoms. Social equality, group responsibility and rule abiding were all significantly negatively associated with loneliness and depressive symptoms. Those negative associations were stronger in the urban regions than in the rural region. Follow-up invariance analysis revealed that this rural-urban difference in the relations between social equality, group responsibility, and rule abiding and mental health problems was only significant during (and not before) the pandemic. The protective effect of group orientation on mental health seems to be weakened only in rural contexts. The results suggest that significant changes in macrolevel contexts may play an important role in shaping adolescents' value orientation and mental health.

Stronger association of perceived health with socio-economic inequality during COVID-19 pandemic than pre-pandemic era

Objective

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed peoples’ routine of daily living and posed major risks to global health and economy. Few studies have examined differential impacts of economic factors on health during pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. We aimed to compare the strength of associations between perceived health and socioeconomic position (household income, educational attainment, and employment) estimated before and during the pandemic.

Methods

Two waves of nationwide survey [on 2018(T1;n = 1200) and 2021(T2;n = 1000)] were done for 2200 community adults. A balanced distribution of confounders (demographics and socioeconomic position) were achieved across the T2 and T1 by use of the inverse probability of treatment weighting. Distributions of perceived health [= (excellent or very good)/(bad, fair, or good)] for physical-mental-social-spiritual subdomains were compared between T1 and T2. Odds of bad/fair/good health for demographics and socioeconomic position were obtained by univariate logistic regression. Adjusted odds (aOR) of bad/fair/good health in lower household income(< 3000 U.S. dollars/month) were retrieved using the multiple hierarchical logistic regression models of T1 and T2.

Results

Perceived health of excellent/very good at T2 was higher than T1 for physical(T1 = 36.05%, T2 = 39.13%; P = 0.04), but were lower for mental(T1 = 38.71%, T2 = 35.17%; P = 0.01) and social(T1 = 42.48%, T2 = 35.17%; P < 0.001) subdomains. Odds of bad/fair/good health were significantly increased at T2 than T1 for household income (physical-mental-social; all Ps < 0.001) and educational attainment (social; P = 0.04) but not for employment (all Ps > 0.05). AORs of bad/fair/good health in lower household income were stronger in T2 than T1, for mental [aOR (95% CI) = 2.15(1.68–2.77) in T2, 1.33(1.06–1.68) in T1; aOR difference = 0.82(P < 0.001)], physical [aOR (95% CI) = 2.64(2.05–3.41) in T2, 1.50(1.18–1.90) in T1; aOR difference = 1.14(P < 0.001)] and social [aOR (95% CI) = 2.15(1.68–2.77) in T2, 1.33(1.06–1.68) in T1; aOR difference = 0.35(P = 0.049)] subdomains.

Conclusions

Risks of perceived health worsening for mental and social subdomains in people with lower monthly household income or lower educational attainment became stronger during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic era. In consideration of the prolonged pandemic as of mid-2022, policies aiming not only to sustain the monthly household income and compulsory education but also to actively enhance the perceived mental-social health status have to be executed and maintained.

The Impacts of COVID-19 Shock on Intergenerational Income Mobility: Evidence from China

The COVID-19 crisis has caused a huge negative shock to economic activities worldwide, leading to a reduction in income and changes in income distribution. Intergenerational mobility is an important indicator of sustainable social development. This paper explores the short-term impacts of the sudden COVID-19 pandemic on intergenerational income mobility and personal income in China. Using the variation in the number of confirmed cases across provinces, we construct a province-level pandemic intensity index and combine it with individual data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). We apply a general difference-in-difference strategy to identify the causal effect of the pandemic on intergenerational income mobility. We find that personal income is positively related to parental income, and that the COVID-19 crisis has caused a decline in individual income and exacerbated intergenerational income persistence. A more intense COVID-19 pandemic shock is associated with a larger increase in intergenerational income elasticity and intergenerational income rank-rank slope. We found that with one standard deviation increase in local pandemic intensity, the intergenerational income elasticity increases by 0.315 and the intergenerational income rank-rank slope increases by 0.198 on average. The mechanism testing suggests that heterogeneous effects among different groups are the force underlying the results. Low-income, low-skilled, and low-parental-income individuals have suffered a more severe impact from the pandemic shock.

Evidence from a Choice Experiment in Consumer Preference towards Infant Milk Formula (IMF) in the Context of Dairy Revitalization and COVID-19 Pandemic

China is the largest global consumer of infant milk formula (IMF). Chinese consumer preferences towards IMF have evolved over time but have also been rocked in recent years by COVID-19 with major implications for the IMF industry, globally and within China. This study is the first to document parents’ preferences toward IMF since the outbreak. We used novel methods to do so, through an online choice experiment of 804 participants that included risk perceptions and socio-demographic variables. Our study finds that Chinese parents continue to prioritize quality and safety attributes of IMF represented by functional ingredients, organic labelling and traceability information. Notably, it also finds greatly increased confidence in Chinese domestically produced IMF and an underlying preference away from expensive products. This implies that the era of ‘go for foreign’ and ‘go for the most expensive’ in IMF purchasing may be coming to an end. The shift in sentiment is driven by the longer-term revitalization of the Chinese dairy industry, accelerated by COVID-19. Understanding these trends will be of major benefit to both Chinese producers and non-Chinese exporters of IMF.

Differences and Influencing Factors of Relative Poverty of Urban and Rural Residents in China Based on the Survey of 31 Provinces and Cities

China achieved comprehensive poverty eradication under the current standards in 2020, but eliminating absolute poverty does not mean the end of poverty alleviation and reduction; relative poverty will exist for a long time and has become the subject of poverty study. In this paper, the social poverty line (SPL) index is utilized to establish the relative poverty standard, and CHFS2017 is used to compare the regional distribution of relative poverty in China. The results show that the relative poverty in rural areas is more serious than that in urban areas. The rural relative poverty rate in five provinces and cities including Beijing is over 60%, and the rural relative poverty rate in Qinghai is low. The urban relative poverty rate in many provinces and cities of the central and western regions is below 40%, and the relatively high relative poverty rate in the eastern region has drawn attention to the issue of the income distribution. Moreover, a logit model for binary is employed for the influencing factor analysis of the relative poverty of urban and rural residents. The results show that the education year has a negative effect on the relative poverty of urban and rural residents. Happiness has a positive effect on urban residents, government financial expenditure and financial support for agriculture have different effects on rural residents and urban residents. Therefore, we put forward aiming at relative poverty in the rural areas of the central and western regions to reduce financial pressure and increase the benefits of poverty reduction.

The Effectiveness and Trade-Offs of Renewable Energy Policies in Achieving the Dual Decarbonization Goals in China: A Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

China’s government has enforced a series of renewable energy policies to promote renewable energy development and achieve the dual decarbonization goals. However, there exists great disparity in previous studies on the effectiveness and suitability of renewable energy policies in abating carbon emissions. This study employs a dynamic general equilibrium model and assesses the effectiveness and trade-offs of renewable energy policies in achieving the dual decarbonization goals by 2060 in China. These policies include carbon market (CRP), the reduction of feed-in tariffs (FIT), the reduction of fossil fuel subsidies (FSB), the reduction of renewable energy costs (REC), resource taxes (RTX), and renewable portfolio standards (REP) as well as the mix of these policies. We find that renewable energy policies together could abate China’s CO₂ emissions in 2060 by 2.57 billion tons, but their effectiveness is very different. The REC would have the greatest effectiveness in abating CO₂ emissions, followed by REP and CRP. Renewable energy policies would cause relatively slight damage to China’s GDP, with the exception of the REC (raising GDP by 1.1713%). Regarding trade-offs, most policies will sacrifice China’s internal and external demand but benefit employment. Renewable energy policies will effectively promote the low-carbon transformation of China’s energy structure.

COVID-19 confines recreational gatherings in Seoul to familiar, less crowded, and neighboring urban areas

Recreational gatherings are sources of the spread of infectious diseases. Understanding the dynamics of recreational gatherings is essential to building effective public health policies but challenging as the interaction between people and recreational places is complex. Recreational activities are concentrated in a set of urban areas and establish a recreational hierarchy. In this hierarchy, higher-level regions attract more people than lower-level regions for recreational purposes. Here, using customers' motel booking records which are highly associated with recreational activities in Korea, we identify that recreational hierarchy, geographical distance, and attachment to a location are crucial factors of recreational gatherings in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Our analyses show that after the COVID-19 outbreak, people are more likely to visit familiar recreational places, avoid the highest level of the recreational hierarchy, and travel close distances. Interestingly, the recreational visitations were reduced not only in the highest but also in low-level regions. Urban areas at low levels of the recreational hierarchy were more severely affected by COVID-19 than urban areas at high and middle levels of the recreational hierarchy.