Child mortality under Chinese reforms

This paper looks at the impact of China's economic reforms on its health performance. Based on an appropriate health outcomes indicator, the logit of infant survival, it appears that while still out-performing most countries, China's relative advance decreased during the reform period. Consistent with the fact that the health system had to rely increasingly on private expenditures, we find an increasing impact of income on infant survival. We also show that relative prices at the provincial level matter for infant survival: for a given increase in income per capita, a real currency depreciation lowers survival. Focusing on poverty reduction still seems to be a major means to significantly improve infant survival in China.