Economic literature in developed countries suggests that demand for alcoholic beverages is sensitive to price, with an estimated price elasticity ranging from −0.38 for beer and −0.7 for liquor. However, few studies have been conducted in developing countries. We employ a large individual-level dataset in China to estimate the effects of price on alcohol demand. Using the data from China Health and Nutrition Survey for the years 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006, we estimate two-part models of alcohol demand. Results show the price elasticity is virtually zero for beer and only −0.12 for liquor, which is far smaller than those derived from developed countries. Separate regressions by gender reveals the results are mainly driven by men. The central implication of this study is, while alcohol tax increases can raise government revenue, it alone is not an effective policy to reduce alcohol related problems in China.

This study examines the consumption-stimulation function of public health insurance (PHI) programs from the perspective of food consumption. We estimate the impact of enrollment in rural China's PHI program, the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS), on the insured's diet diversity and diet balance using panel data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Exploiting temporal and spatial variations in the program's local implementation, our difference-in-differences estimation (combined with propensity score matching in some analyses) reveals significant increases in the insured's diet diversity, overall diet balance, and nutrition intakes. However, the program's consumption-stimulation function is not entirely beneficial. While NCMS enrollment reduced the incidence of under-consumption of animal products and fruits, it raised that of over-consumption of grains, imposing potential health risks on the insured.

This study exploited random roommate assignments in a small Chinese college to estimate the causal effects of roommates’ scores on the national College Entrance Test (CET) on first-year students’ Grade Point Average (GPA). Analyzing data on an entire cohort of enrolled students, we found that the level of aggregation, for both the peer-ability measure and one’s own academic-outcome measure, matters for the identification of academic peer effects. Specifically, while roommates’ average CET score has a barely significant impact, the highest-scoring roommate’s CET score has a strong positive impact. Peer effects are also larger for one’s GPA for required courses than that of elective courses. Finally, peer effects in both types of courses decline over time while the effects of one’s own CET score increase over time, suggesting that students in this college tend to substitute their own ability for peer ability as they become more academically independent.