Author(s)

Chunhui Chen, Caixia Zhou

Corresponding Author

Chunhui Chen

ABSTRACT

Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2018, this paper examines the impact of depression on household consumption and explores whether the health insurance system can smooth out household consumption fluctuations due to depression. The findings show that depression leads to a significant increase in households' medical expenditures and a significant decrease in food, clothing, household goods, transportation and communication expenditures, but total expenditures remain almost unchanged; the current health insurance system is unable to smooth out the above consumption fluctuations.

KEYWORDS

Depression, household consumption, health insurance