营养、健康与效率——来自中国贫困农村的证据

运用来自中国贫困农村的数据 ,本文系统地研究了营养、健康对劳动生产率或者说收入的影响。在控制着营养和健康变量“内生性”的前提下 ,本文估计了不同的营养和健康指标在中国贫困农村的回报和弹性。结果表明 ,几乎所有的营养和健康方面都影响到农村的劳动生产率 ,其中 ,营养摄入和疾病的影响最为显著。平均来看 ,卡路里拥有量每增加 1 % ,种植业收入会相应增加 0 57% ;而家庭劳动力因病无法工作时间每增加一个月 ,种植业收入将减少 2 3 0 0元。这些结果说明 ,要想使农民摆脱贫困的束缚 ,投资于营养和健康具有至关重要的作用。

Nutrition,Health and Productivity——Evidence From Poor Areas of Rural China

Using household data from poor areas of rural China,this paper has examined how nutrition and health affect productivity.In controlling for endogenous problems of nutrition and health,it found that almost every aspect of health and nutrition had significant impacts on productivity.On average,one percent increase of calorie intake will lead to 0.57 percent increase in income;and one more month illness will result in loss of income by RMB 2300.Those results suggest that investment in health and nutrition in the poor will have substantial returns in terms of income in China.