Research On Income Gap,environmental Pollution And Health Level

With people's pursuit of a better life,the drawbacks of pursuing GDP growth as the only goal are gradually highlighted.The extensive development mode characterized by“high energy consumption,high pollution,and high emissions” has not only caused serious ecological and environmental problems,but also affected the high-quality development of our economy.At the same time,China's urban and rural regional development and income distribution gap are still large.Income disparity and environmental pollution are two important factors that affect residents' health.Under the background of striving to improve people's livelihood and vigorously implementing the healthy China strategy,how to coordinate income distribution and environmental governance policies has become the key to improving residents' health.Based on the analysis framework of “income gap-environment pollution-health level”,this paper adopts a variety of research methods such as literature induction,theoretical analysis and empirical analysis,qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis to study the relationship between income disparity,environmental pollution,and health level,aiming to provide policy suggestions for improving residents' health from the perspective of income distribution and environmental governance.It is of great theoretical and practical significance to the reform of China's income distribution system,pollution prevention strategies,and ‘Health China' strategies.This article focuses on the following issues: First,what is the current status of China's income gap,environmental pollution and health level? Is it regional? Is there a necessary connection between them? Second,in view of the controversial issues of the relationship between income gap and health level,income gap and environmental pollution,whether it can provide empirical support based on China's realistic background? What is the channel mechanism of the effect of income gap on health and environmental pollution? Third,on the basis of the existing research which explains the mechanism of income gap's effect on health through material resource acquisition,social capital,psychology and so on,is environmental pollution another way? Does environmental pollution play a mediating role between income inequality and health? Is it possible that the widening income gap will exacerbate residents' environmental health risks? Fourth,on the basis of clarifying the relationship between income gap and environmental pollution,what policy suggestions should be made to balance income distribution and environmental governance in order toimprove residents' health level.In response to the above issues,the main content of the article is divided into the following seven parts:In the introduction part,the research background and significance of this paper are both expounded,and the existing research results at home and abroad are summarized,sorted out and commented,which provides different entry points and research ideas for the study of the paper.In additon,the research method,structure arrangement and technical route of the paper are also explained in detail.The first chapter defines the concepts of income gap,environmental pollution and health level,which clarifies the research object.Seeking for theoretical support,this paper selects the income distribution theory,KC theory,EKC theory,health human capital theory and health demand theory as the theoretical basis of this study.In the second chapter,the historical evolution and current situation of income gap,environmental pollution and health level in China are described in detail.Through the rigorous selection of indicators and in-depth of analysing the change characteristics of each index in different time and different region,the relevance of the three has reached a preliminary understanding.The third chapter analyzes the mechanism of income gap,environmental pollution and health level.Divided into three parts: the effect mechanism of income gap on health level,the effect mechanism of income gap on environmental pollution,and the intermediary transmission mechanism of environmental pollution in the effect of income gap on health level,the interaction mechanism of the three was deeply analyzed,which can be used as a reference for the later empirical analysis.The fourth chapter is the empirical analysis of the impact of income gap on health level,mainly based on the provincial macro-level and CFPS2016 micro-level empirical test.In the provincial macro-level empirical analysis,to verify the impact of regional income gap on health level,the average life expectancy and perinatal mortality were taken as a measure of health level.Meanwhile,various stability tests were used to ensure the accuracy of conclusions.In the analysis of CFPS2016 microdata,The effect of income gap on individual health level measured by self-rated health and objective health was examined furtherly.The fifth chapter,based on the perspective of nonlinearity and spatial spillove,analyzed the impact of income gap on environmental pollution.Constructing the comprehensive index of environmental pollution with the entropy weight method and considering the non-linear effect of income gap on environmental pollution and the spatial spillover effect of environmental pollution,the relationship between income gap andenvironmental pollution was empirically analyzed by establishing spatial panel model.Finally,the impact mechanism of income gap on environmental pollution was verified through four channels: environmental regulation policy,energy structure,technological progress and public demand for environmental quality.The sixth chapter is the influence of income gap and environmental pollution on health level from a macrocosm and microcosm perspective.At the macro level,the mediating effect model of income gap and environmental pollution on health level was established to verify the mediating conduction effect of environmental pollution.In Microcosmic aspect,through three periods mixed cross-section data of CHARLS2011,2013,2015,matched with the corresponding city pollution data,this part tested whether the widening income gap in China is likely to aggravate the residents' environmental health risks.The seventh chapter,according to the theoretical analysis and empirical analysis of the above results,summarized the conclusions of this paper and put forward policy recommendations.Finally,the future research direction was prospected.In this paper,the perspective,content,methods and conclusions of the reseach have a certain degree of innovation.From the research perspective,an analysis framework of“income gap-enviromental pollution-health level” is established based on the realistic background of China.The existing research on the influence of income gap on health level is mainly based on the conduction mechanism of material resource acquisition,social capital and psychology,while the conduction mechanism of environmental pollution is often neglected.Given all that,this paper expands the research perspective of income gap influencing health level,and focuses on the transmission mechanism of environmental pollution between income gap and health level.In the research content,the traditional EKC theory was expanded and the impact of regional income gap on environmental pollution was studied from the perspective of income distribution.At the same time,through theoretical and empirical analysis,the effect mechanism was also tested.In addition,considering not only group health but also individual attribute difference,the health level of individuals was discussed.Through the combination of provincial panel data and micro-survey data,universal and different conclusions can be obtained from different perspectives.In research methods,in view of the “weak hypothesis” of income gap and health level,an income threshold model of the impact of income gap on health level was established.For the ambiguity of the relationship between income gap and environmental pollution,a more realistic spatial panel model estimated by the generalized spatial two-stage least squares was used,while the intermediate effect model was established totest the transmission path of environmental pollution.On the conclusion of the research,this paper considers that environmental pollution is an effective transmission way for income gap to affect health level,and the widening income gap is possible to increase residents' environmental health risks.Based on the above theoretical analysis and empirical analysis,this paper draws the following conclusions:First,the income gap and environmental pollution are quite serious in China,and the health level of residents shows differences.Compared with the overall mortality which keeps increasing,the average life expectancy is rising gradually and the perinatal mortality tends to decrease.Besides,all of them show significant regional characteristics,and the eastern region is significantly better than the central and western regions.Second,whether based on macro-level data or micro-level data,the impact of income gap on health has shown a significant negative effect.According to the provincial macro-level data,the income gap measured by Keeny Coefficient significantly reduces the average life expectancy and has a significant contribution to the perinatal mortality rate.On the basis of the microsurvey data of CFPS2016,an Ordered-Probit model was used to examine the effects of income disparity on individual health,which showed that income gap has significant negative effect on health level of individuals regadless of indicators mearsured by self-rated health or objective health.Third,income gap has an income threshold on health level.Material resource acquisition,social capital and psychology are the effective mechanisms.Compared with the high-income areas,the health level of the low-income areas is more negatively affected by the income gap,which confirms the conclusion of “weak hypothesis”.By introducing the cross-item of income gap,it showed that the level of medical treatment and education can significantly reduce the negative effect of income gap on health level.Furthermore,by means of the two-step test,it is also found that the income gap has an effect on individual health through social capital and psychological means,and there is a tendency of “prorich”.Fourth,there is a significant positive spatial spillover effect of environmental pollution.The regional environmental pollution level is not only influenced by local economic development level,industrial structure and factor endowment,etc.,it is also affected by the level of environmental pollution in the surrounding area.Considering the spatial spillover effect and endogenesis of environmental pollution,income gap and environmental pollution show a significant “inverted U” relationship.At present,the effect of income gap on environmental pollution is mainly positive.Besides,Environmentalregulation policy,energy structure and environmental protection demand are the effective ways for income gap to affect environmental pollution.Fifth,income disparity can affect health through environmental pollution,which is another effective way besides material resource acquisition,social capital and psychology.The widening income gap may aggravate the residents' environmental health risks.