| Scholars have carried out many discussions on the “curse” effect of resource-based industry dependence on economic growth for a long time.Still,they pay little attention on the “health curse” effect of resource development activities on residents(especially infants).Undoubtedly,a special investigation on how resource-based industry dependence affects residents’ health will help to slow down or even avoid this health curse effect,realizing the promotion effect of healthy human capital on sustainable economic growth.The “resource curse” effect of resource-based industry dependence on economic development,air pollution,and high carbon emissions are important reasons for infant health damage and future health uncertainty in resource-based areas.Focusing on infants,a particular group more sensitive to environmental quality,this paper systematically discusses the impact of resource-based industry dependence on infant mortality and its mechanism through a theoretical model and an empirical analysis.First,this paper constructs an endogenous growth theoretical model including the manufacturing sector,technology research and development sector,resource industry sector,and environmental health sector,and deduces and analyzes the potential impact of resource-based industry dependence on infant health through the theoretical model.Furthermore,based on the “budget constraint hypothesis”,“pollution exposureresponse hypothesis” and “carbon exposure-response hypothesis”,this paper summarizes and explains the mechanisms of resource-based industry dependence on infant health.The results show that shows that the increase of resource-based industry dependence is not conducive to improving infant health.Meanwhile,the rise in resource-based industry dependence can hurt infant health by inhibiting economic growth and increasing air pollution and carbon emissions.Second,based on a panel data sample of 1009 counties(including county-level cities)in China from 2000 to 2012,this paper empirically investigates the impact of resourcebased industry dependence on infant health characterized by infant mortality.In addition,this paper analyzes the heterogeneity of the health curse effect from the perspectives of medical quality heterogeneity,human capital heterogeneity,regional heterogeneity,policy heterogeneity,and resource endowment heterogeneity.The results show that resource-based industry dependence does have an increasing effect on infant mortality.At the same time,improving medical care quality and the level of human capital can alleviate the damage of resource-based industry dependence on infant health.The adverse effects of resource-based industry dependence on infant mortality in “Non-Two Control Zones”,resource-based counties and north of the Huai River are more significant.Third,this paper examines the economic growth mechanism of resource-based industry dependence on infant mortality.This paper tests the resource curse hypothesis of economic growth at the county level in China and empirically investigates the infant health effect of economic growth based on the budget constraint hypothesis.The results show that resource-based industry dependence has a significant adverse impact on economic growth.The resource curse effect is noticeable.The policy of “Large-City”construction provides an excellent effective solution to solve the dilemma of the resource curse.The budget constraint hypothesis has been effectively verified.That is,resource-based industry dependence can increase infant mortality by inhibiting economic growth.The resource curse effect of resource-based industry dependence on economic growth leads to the contraction of residents’ health budget constraints,increasing the risk of infants’ premature death.Fourth,this paper tests the air pollution mechanism of resource-based industry dependence on infant mortality.Specifically,this paper uses the data of Key Survey Areas and seismic data as the instrumental variables to investigate the air pollution effect of resource-based industry dependence.Furthermore,this paper selects the thermal inversion variable as the instrumental variable to identify the impact of air pollution on infant health.The results have tested the transmission mechanism that resource-based industry dependence increase infant mortality by aggravating air pollution.That is,resource-based industry dependence significantly exacerbates air pollution,and air pollution has a significantly increasing effect on infant mortality.The impact of air pollution on the health of infants can be traced back to the mother’s pregnancy.The health risk burden of air pollution in Chinese children is similar to that in Mexico,Africa and slightly higher than that in the United States.The heterogeneity analysis shows that air pollution is pro-poor,and infants from low-income families are more susceptible to health damage from air pollution.The construction of “Smart City”and raising the public environmental concern can effectively reduce the health damage of infants caused by air pollution.The existing environmental governance policies such as “Two Control Zones”,“Three Regions and Ten Urban Agglomerations” and “Key Environmental Protection Cities” also are helpful for reducing the health risk burden of air pollution.Fifth,this paper tests the carbon emission mechanism of resource-based industry dependence on infant mortality.Specifically,this paper first verifies the carbon curse hypothesis at the county level in China.Furthermore,based on the carbon exposureresponse hypothesis,this paper empirically investigated the relationship between carbon emissions and infant mortality.The results have tested the transmission mechanism that resource-based industry dependence increase infant mortality by aggravating carbon emissions.That is,resource-based industry dependence will significantly affect carbon emissions,while the increase of carbon emissions will dramatically increase the risk of death of infants.Infants in poor counties are more likely to become “vulnerable groups” in a high-carbon environment.The “Huai River”policy causes infants in the north of the Huai River to bear greater health risks of carbon emissions.And the implementation of the “Two Control Zones” and “Key Environmental Protection Cities” policies will help alleviate the health damage of carbon emissions to infants.Sixth,based on the theoretical analysis and empirical conclusions,this paper points out that we should alleviate the negative impact of resource-based industry dependence on infant health by the following four aspects.(1)Promote the diversification and rationalization of industrial structure and boost the green development of energy-based economy,to solve the economic growth dilemma under the constraints of climate change.(2)Consider the concept of giving priority to health in the process of environmental governance.And strengthen the construction of “Two Control Zones”“Environmental Protection Cities” “Low-Carbon Pilot Construction” and the corresponding environmental pollution prevention and control policies,to achieve the multiple goals of pollution prevention,economic development and resident health at the same time.(3)Attach importance to strengthening the propaganda of ecological and environmental protection,guide the media,enterprises and the public to pay attention to and prevent air pollution,and form an “echo wall” to create a good atmosphere of public opinion,so as to use the power of the whole people to promote the alleviation of environmental problems and promote the health welfare of residents.(4)Strengthen the construction of grass-roots health,continue to strengthen the rural medical insurance financial subsidies and the new rural cooperative medical system,and other pro-poor medical investments to protect the health rights of vulnerable groups. |
PDF Full Text Request