Heterogeneous Stratification How Market Forces Influence the Quality of Home-Based Elderly Care —— Based on empirical research from two phases of CHARLS and CGSS data

Social security is a major issue in governing and securing a nation, with elderly care being a crucial aspect of supporting high-quality population development towards Chinese-style modernization. This paper takes home-based elderly care as an example, utilizing the latest data from the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). By introducing and expanding the welfare governance framework, it systematically analyzes from a structural perspective the logic behind how market forces affect the quality of home-based elderly care. The study finds that improvements in the quality of home-based elderly care largely depend on the continuous role of market forces. Based on the propensity score matching—two-way fixed effects model method, this paper argues that market forces have a net effect on the quality of home-based elderly care, especially significant for elderly social participation and in rural areas. Further explanation reveals that the impact of market forces on the quality of home-based elderly care shows crowding-out effects, scale effects, and synergistic effects, characterized by "heterogeneous stratification". This enriches the connotation of the social security system with Chinese characteristics. The paper provides empirical evidence for understanding the relationship between high-quality development and high-quality life.