A Study on the Determinants of Social Welfare: Evidence from Macroeconomics

Purpose - Social welfare is a social insurance system that provides funds and services for all citizens to maximize their life quality. Its ultimate goal is to alleviate social contradictions. Therefore, this paper explores the determinants of social welfare in terms of macroeconomics. Research design, data, and methodology - Based on the vector error correction model, the annual time series from 1990 to 2017 will be used to conduct an empirical analysis. The real GDP, the real income, the inflation and the degree of openness will be treated as independent variables. The input of social welfare will be treated as a dependent variable. These variables will be used to perform the cointegration test and the vector error correction model to explore how the macroeconomic variables affect social welfare both in long run and short run. Result - Via the empirical analysis, it can be summarized that the real GDP, the real income and the degree of openness are the driving determinants to enlarge the social welfare. Conversely, the inflation is the obstructive determinant to reduce the social welfare. Conclusion - The positive and negative determinants of social welfare exist simultaneously, China’s government should take macroeconomic regulation and control to balance them to enlarge social welfare.