RESUMO
Under the background of the far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on global economic development, the interactive effect of economic recovery and pollution rebound makes the research topic of air pollution and human health receive attention again. Matching a series of new datasets and employing thermal inversion as an instrumental variable, this study investigates the physical and mental health effect of air pollution jointly in China. We find that in the short run, the above inference holds for both physical and mental health. These short-run influences are credible after a series of robustness checks and vary with different individual characteristics and geographical locations. We also find that in the long run, air pollution only damages mental health. Finally, this study calculates the health cost of air pollution. The above findings indicate that in China, the effect of air pollution on physical and mental health cannot be ignored. The government needs to consider the heterogeneity and long-run and short-run differences in the health effects of air pollution when formulating corresponding environmental and medical policies.
Assuntos
Poluentes Atmosféricos , Poluição do Ar , COVID-19 , Humanos , COVID-19/epidemiologia , Poluição do Ar/análise , Poluição Ambiental , Saúde Mental , China/epidemiologia , Poluentes Atmosféricos/análise , Material Particulado/análiseRESUMO
It is well known that women bear the greatest burden of health, work time, and labor supply due to gender disparity in many developing countries. In this study, we analyze the health inequality in rural China caused by indoor air pollution from traditional energy use. Specifically, we study the effect of clean energy access on woman health outcome by exploiting a nationwide rollout of clean cooking fuel program in 2014. Based on interviews with rural women in 2014 and 2016, this study analyzes the impact of clean energy use on women's health by using the propensity score matching method with the difference-in-differences model (PSM-DID). We also analyze the heterogeneous health effects of clean energy uptake on rural women with different characteristics. The results show that clean energy applications can significantly improve the health of rural women. The positive health effects are substantial for middle-aged and older women, illiterate women, and those women lived in northeastern China. The results highlight the role of clean energy in reducing gender disparities in health inequality.
Assuntos
Poluição do Ar em Ambientes Fechados , Culinária/instrumentação , Disparidades nos Níveis de Saúde , Idoso , Poluição do Ar em Ambientes Fechados/análise , Poluição do Ar em Ambientes Fechados/prevenção & controle , China , Fontes Geradoras de Energia , Feminino , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , População Rural , Saúde da MulherRESUMO
As an important new tool for ecological poverty alleviation, carbon trading compensation is combining ecological protection with rural poverty alleviation. This paper evaluates the poverty alleviation impact of China's pilot carbon emissions trading schemes (ETS) at the provincial level before and after the program, which was implemented from 2007 to 2017. Specifically, we measure poverty alleviation in terms of rural residential income growth and rural job creation. By exploiting the quasi-experimental variation in whether provinces were affected by this pilot ETS policy, our analysis finds that the ETS policy resulted in increases in rural residential income and employment. We find the estimated effects correspond to an increase of approximately 752.6 yuan in annual rural residential income and 2.35% in the ratio of rural employed population to the total employed population, accounting for 9.5% of the rural residents' income and 7.11% of the rural employment, specifically. The results imply that the implementation of ETS is beneficial to income growth and job creation for rural areas of China, which mean the ETS policy may be conducive to poverty alleviation in affected provinces.