Rural road improvement and individual health in China

IF 2.9 3区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Journal of Asian Economics Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101908

Tao Bu , Daisheng Tang , Zheng Zhang , Chengkai Jiang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

It is crucial to investigate the effects of improving rural transportation infrastructure on the health of rural populations. This study establishes a multiple equilibrium model between transportation networks and rural health capital. Based on the data of rural road construction in China and the data of China Health and Nutrition Survey from 2000 to 2015, the OLS and FRD methods with year and individual fixed effects were used to analyze the impact of rural roads on the health status of rural labor force. The study found that rural road connectivity significantly improved laborers’ health, particularly for female, middle-aged and agricultural laborers. The key mechanism of this study is to promote public economic development and individual health investment, health literacy, and time allocation. There is a significant complementary effect between transportation investments and health investments, along with a substitution effect between work and leisure. Our theoretical and empirical findings highlight the importance of last-mile road construction in remote rural areas for improving rural health capital in developing countries.

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中国农村道路改善与个人健康

研究改善农村交通基础设施对农村人口健康的影响至关重要。本研究建立了交通网络与农村卫生资本的多元均衡模型。基于2000 - 2015年中国农村道路建设数据和中国健康与营养调查数据，采用具有年固定效应和个体固定效应的OLS和FRD方法，分析农村道路对农村劳动力健康状况的影响。研究发现，农村道路联通显著改善了劳动者的健康状况，尤其是女性、中年和农业劳动者。本研究的关键机制是促进公共经济发展和个人健康投资、健康素养和时间分配。交通投资与卫生投资之间存在显著的互补效应，工作与休闲之间存在替代效应。我们的理论和实证研究结果强调了偏远农村地区最后一英里道路建设对于改善发展中国家农村卫生资本的重要性。

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来源期刊

Journal of Asian Economics ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

4.70

自引率

9.40%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Asian Economics provides a forum for publication of increasingly growing research in Asian economic studies and a unique forum for continental Asian economic studies with focus on (i) special studies in adaptive innovation paradigms in Asian economic regimes, (ii) studies relative to unique dimensions of Asian economic development paradigm, as they are investigated by researchers, (iii) comparative studies of development paradigms in other developing continents, Latin America and Africa, (iv) the emerging new pattern of comparative advantages between Asian countries and the United States and North America.