ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANKASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City1550 Metro Manila, Philippineswww.adb.orgAccess to Pensions, Old-Age Support, and Child Investment in the People’s Republic of ChinaThis study shows that the new pension program in the People’s Republic of China can fundamentally alter the traditional support system between generations. While it lessens the role of working-age adults to provide support to their old-age parents, it may also have an impact on the educational investment of parents in their children depending on their gender. Along with the new pension program, policies to reduce school dropout and to support children who receive less parental investment may mitigate the unintended adverse impact.About the Asian Development BankADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members —49 from the region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance.ACCESS TO PENSIONS, OLD-AGE SUPPORT, AND CHILD INVESTMENT IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINAXiaoyue Shan and Albert ParkADB ECONOMICSWORKING PAPER SERIESNO. 682May 2023 ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANKADB Economics Working Paper SeriesAccess to Pensions, Old-Age Support, and Child Investment in the People’s Republic of ChinaXiaoyue Shan and Albert ParkNo. 682 | May 2023Xiaoyue Shan (xiaoyues@wharton.upenn.edu) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Albert Park (afpark@adb.org) is the Chief Economist and Director General of the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, Asian Development Bank.The ADB Economics Working Paper Series presents research in progress to elicit comments and encourage debate on development issues in Asia and the Pacific. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of ADB or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)© 2023 Asian Development Bank6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, PhilippinesTel +63 2 8632 4444; Fax +63 2 8636 2444www.adb.orgSome rights reserved. Published in 2023.ISSN 2313-6537 (print), 2313-6545 (electronic)Publication Stock No. WPS230161-2DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/WPS230161-2The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by ADB in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using the term “country” in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/. By using the content of this publication, you agree to be bound by the terms of this license. For attribution, translations, adaptations, and permissions, please read the provisions and terms of use at https://www.adb.org/terms-use#openaccess.This CC license does not apply to non-ADB copyright materials in this publication. If the material is attributed to another source, please contact the copyright owner or publisher of that source for permission to reproduce it. ADB cannot be held liable for any claims that arise as a result of your use of the material.Please contact pubsmarketing@adb.org if you have questions or comments with respect to content, or if you wish to obtain copyright permission for your intended use that does not fall within these terms, or for permission to use the ADB logo.Corrigenda to ADB publications may be found at http://www.adb.org/publications/corrigenda.Notes: In this publication, “$” refers to United States dollars and “CNY” refers to yuan. ADB recognizes “China” as the People’s Republic of China.The ADB Economics Working Paper Series presents data, information, and/or findings from ongoing research and studies to encourage exchange of ideas and to elicit comment and feedback about development issues in Asia and the Pacific. Since papers in this series are intended for quick and easy dissemination, the content may or may not be fully edited and may later be modified for final publication. ABSTRACT This paper studies how access to public pensions affects old-age support and child investment in traditional