How Does Participation in the New Rural Pension Program Affect Attitudes Toward Public Services?

To mitigate and adapt to the challenges posed by population aging, the Chinese government had implemented the New Rural Pension Program (NRPP), a top-down initiative with extensive coverage. As a form of social welfare, it remains unclear whether the implementation of the NRPP improves rural residents’ attitudes toward public services. To identify this causal relationship, this study disaggregates public services attitudes into eight dimensions and employs five waves of CFPS data (2012–2020) to examine the effects of NRPP benefit receipt on public services attitudes. Results show that receiving social welfare significantly improves farmers’ evaluations of public services. Moreover, increased trust in local officials serves as an important mechanism, while household size moderates this effect. This study extends the explanatory scope of theories such as self-interest theory and offers targeted recommendations for the construction and development of China’s social security system.