讲座题目：How Do People Responds to Increased Fund Inflows into Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs): Evidence from Administrative Data in China

内容简介：This paper investigates how people respond to policy-induced increases in fund inflows at specific age thresholds into medical savings accounts (MSAs) over their life cycle. After the age of 35 or 45, the employer contributions to the employee's MSA increase by 0.5 percent of their pre-tax wages. By utilizing administrative data on the Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance from a prefecture-level city in China and employing an event study approach, we find that the introduction of additional fund inflows prompts enrollees to increase MSA fund outflows by 9 percent and spending on outpatient care and drugstore purchases by about 8 percent. This suggests that the estimated marginal propensity to consume (MPC) from MSA funds lies between 0.5 and 0.6. Meanwhile, we find significant responses and similar MPCs among individuals with varying socioeconomic statuses, including wage, pre-event MSA balance, education, and hukou status. Notably, we do not observe significant changes in outcomes at alternative age thresholds or in employees' wages. These results highlight that people perceive MSAs as mental accounts earmarked for healthcare expenditure rather than saving vehicles, and healthcare consumption is sensitive to liquidity.

主讲人：黄炜 副教授（长聘）（北京大学国家发展研究院）

讲座时间：2023年9月20日（周三）13:00—14:30

讲座地点：求是楼347会议室

讲座语言：中英文

主持人：邹先强 讲师

参与人员：热烈欢迎广大师生参加。

主讲人简介：

黄炜，北大博雅青年学者、北大国发院经济学副教授（长聘），海外高层次青年人才计划入选者，国发院本科教学主任。黄炜老师先后任职于美国经济研究局（NBER）、新加坡国立大学（NUS）和美国埃默里大学（Emory University）。研究兴趣主要集中于劳动经济学、健康经济学和公共经济学等领域。黄炜老师于2016年获得哈佛大学经济学博士学位。黄炜老师在《经济研究》、《管理世界》、《世界经济》、《经济学》（季刊）和Nature，REStat，AEJ-applied，JoLE，JDE, JHR 以及JEP 等国内外顶尖学术期刊上发表论文30余篇。黄炜老师担任Economics of Transition and Institutional Change (EoT) 共同主编，Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (JEBO)、China Economic Review (CER)、Journal of Asian Economics (JAE) 副主编以及《经济学》（季刊）副主编。他同时担任《经济研究》以及AER, QJE, JPE, Restat, AEJ等国内外学术期刊匿名审稿人。