Rural Social Security, Precautionary Savings, and the Upgrading of Rural Residents’ Consumption Structure in China

Based on the 2012 and 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data, this paper explores the influence mechanism between rural social security, precautionary savings, and the upgrading of rural residents’ consumption structure in China from theoretical and empirical perspectives. The results show that China’s rural social security can significantly promote the upgrading of rural residents’ consumption structure, and 1.79% of the positive effect of China’s rural social security on the upgrading of rural residents’ consumption structure in China is realized through the mediating effect of precautionary saving; the robustness of the regression results is tested by a placebo test and substitution matching method. Through further research, it is found that the promotion effect of China’s rural social security on the upgrading of rural residents’ consumption structure in China varies by region and age. In order to promote the sustainable upgrading of rural residents’ consumption structure, rural social security policies should be further improved, and new rural social pension insurance policies should be formulated according to local conditions, which will ultimately promote the economic development of rural areas.