Environmental pollution and socioeconomic health inequality: Evidence from China

Abstract

Recent work on socioeconomic health inequality has explored the possible determinants, but there is a lack of empirical evidence examining the associations between environmental pollution and socioeconomic health inequality. Most of studies employed the one-dimensional decomposition method, focusing on health but ignoring rank, to analyze the factors of health inequality. Hence, we fill this gap by using nationally representative individual-level data, employing the recentered influence function regressions method (a two-dimensional decomposition method), and estimating the marginal effect of environmental pollution on socioeconomic inequality in three health outcomes in China straightforward: physical discomfort, chronic disease, and self-rated health. Findings show that environmental pollution increases the income related health inequality of people, and the effect is larger for the middle-aged. The evidence of the possible channel through which environmental pollution is correlated with socioeconomic health inequality is also provided. In the face of environmental pollution, the rich pay more attention to their health condition and increase beneficial health behaviors, such as increasing sleeping hours, decreasing smoking, or having a more balanced diet, compared with the poor. It partly explains why environmental pollution widens the income related health inequality. These findings imply that reducing environmental pollution is an effective strategy for improving environmental quality and narrowing the income related health inequality.