| Abstract: |
In this paper, we model gender differences in cognitive ability in China using
a new sample of middle-aged and older Chinese respondents. Modeled after the
American Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), CHARLS respondents are 45 years
and older and are nationally representative of the Chinese population in this
age span. Our measures of cognition in CHARLS relies on two measures that
proxy for different dimensions of adult cognition – episodic memory and intact
mental status. We relate these cognitive measures to adult health and SES
outcomes during the adult years. We find large cognitive differences to the
detriment of women that were mitigated by large gender differences in
education among these generations of Chinese people. These gender differences
in cognition are especially concentrated in the older age groups and poorer
communities within the sample. We also investigated historical, geographical,
and cultural characteristics of communities to understand how they impact
cognition. Economic development and environmental improvement such as having
electricity, increase in wage per capita and green coverage ratio generally
contribute to higher cognition ability. Women benefit more from the fruits of
development – electricity and growth of green coverage ratio are conducive to
lessening female disadvantage in cognition. |