Air pollution, general government public-health expenditures and income inequality: Empirical analysis based on the spatial Durbin model

Does environmental regulation improve public health? Evidence from China's Two Control Zones policy

Improving public health is the premise of sustainable human development and an essential condition of economic growth. However, increasing severe environmental pollution poses a threat to public health. Implementing environmental regulation policy has become a meaningful way to control environmental pollution and the basis and guarantee for achieving public health. This paper aims to study the impact of environmental regulation on public health. The Two Control Zones (TCZ) policy is the earliest and stricter environmental regulation in China. Based on the policy experiment of TCZ, this paper analyzes the role of TCZ policy in improving public health using the DID model and data from 112 cities. The study finds that the TCZ policy can significantly improve public health, and this improvement effect was continuous and lagging. The results of benchmark regression show that the implementation of the TCZ policy has reduced the incidence rate of respiratory diseases in TCZ areas by 5.7%. When considering city heterogeneity in terms of economic and geographical conditions, the study further found that the impact of improvement is largest for cities in more heavily non-provincial capital and central and western regions, respectively. In addition, the results of mediating test show that TCZ policy improves public health by reducing environmental pollution. Our research fills the gap in the literature on the micro effects of environmental regulation policy on public health in developing countries. The government should prioritize environmental pollution control through reasonable environmental regulation policies. The government should strengthen environmental information disclosure to remind the public to deal with air pollution. The government and enterprises also should take various environmental protection measures to reduce air pollution emissions.

Air pollution attributed disease burden and economic growth in India: Estimating trends and inequality between states

Background

Air pollution is one of the major contributors to the disease burden in India after malnutrition. We examined the relation, and state-wise disparities in air pollution attributed to disease burden (APADB) concerning gross state domestic product (GSDP) and growth in motor vehicles in India.

Methods

We retrieved disability-adjusted life year (DALY) estimates for India due to air pollution from the Global Burden of Disease Studies, injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD). We examined the association between APADB with GSDP and the growth in the number of registered motor vehicles in India during the 2011 to 2019 period. Concentration indices and Lorenz curves were used to explore the variation in APADB across individual states.

Findings

Except for a few states, APADB is inversely proportional to GSDP. Growth in motor vehicles was also negatively correlated with the APADB in n=19 states. The concentration index explained a 47% inequality in APADB between individual states and exhibited a decline (45%) during 2019 compared to 2011. The unevenness in APADB among Indian states is evident from the analysis as the states occupying the 6^th or 7^th decile and above in terms of GDP, urbanization and population contribute more than 60 per cent of the total APADB.

Interpretation

The APADB is inversely correlated with GSDP for most of the states, and the negative correlations were conspicuous when APADB per 100,000 population was analysed. The concentration index and Lorenz revealed the presence of APADB inequality between states in terms of GSDP, population, urbanisation, and total factories.

Funding

Not applicable.

What drives the spatio-temporal distribution and spillover of air quality in China’s three urban agglomerations? Evidence from a two-stage approach

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and Pearl River Delta (PRD) are the most important economic hinterlands in China, offering high levels of economic development. In 2020, their proportion of China’s total GDP reached 39.28%. Over the 5 years of 2014–2018, the annual maximum air quality index (AQI) of the three major urban agglomerations was greater than 100, thus maintaining a grade III light pollution (100 < AQI < 200) in Chinese air standards. This research thus uses a two-stage empirical analysis method to explore the spatial-temporal dispersal physiognomies and spillover effects of air quality in these three major urban agglomerations. In the first stage, the Kriging interpolation method regionally estimates and displays the air quality monitoring sampling data. The results show that the air quality of these three major urban agglomerations is generally good from 2014 to 2018, the area of good air is gradually expanding, the AQI value is constantly decreasing, the air pollution of YRD is shifting from southeast to northwest, and the air pollution of PRD is increasing. The dyeing industry shows a trend of concentration from northwest to south-central. In the second stage, Moran’s I and Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) explore the spatial autocorrelation and spillover effects of air quality related variables. The results show that Moran’s I values in the spatial autocorrelation analysis all pass the significance test. Moreover, public transport, per capita GDP, science and technology expenditure, and the vegetation index all have a significant influence on the spatial dispersal of air quality in the three urban agglomerations, among which the direct effect of public transport and the indirect effect and total effect of the vegetation index are the most significant. Therefore, the China’s three major urban agglomerations (TMUA) ought to adjust the industrial structure, regional coordinated development, and clean technology innovation.

The Impact of Environmental Pollution and Economic Growth on Public Health: Evidence From China

A comprehensive understanding of the impact of economic growth and environmental pollution on public health is crucial to the sustainable development of public health. In this paper, an individual fixed effect model is used to analyze the impact of environmental pollution and economic growth on public health, based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2007 to 2018. The research finds that: First, the health status of China's four regions is not only affected by economic growth and environmental pollution, but also affected by the per capita disposable income and urbanization rate. Second, there is a long-term balanced relationship between China's economic growth, environmental pollution and public health. Third, environmental pollution harms children's health and significantly increases the perinatal mortality, while economic growth helps to reduce the perinatal mortality. Fourth, environmental pollution plays a regulatory role between economic growth and public health. Fifth, there are significant regional differences in the impact of environmental pollution and economic growth on public health. Among them, the degree of harm caused by sulfur dioxide emissions on mortality in northeastern China is significantly higher than that of the eastern China, eastern China is higher than that of the western China, and western China is higher than that of the central China. Finally, in order to reduce the adverse consequences of environmental pollution on public health in the process of economic development, this study puts forward relevant policy suggestions.