The dynamic relationship among economic development, air pollution, and health production in China: the DNSBM efficiency model

Abstract

China’s economy has grown rapidly in response to the adoption of a high-energy, high-emissions development model, which has led to varying degrees of air pollution; moreover, the corresponding health damage has become a major concern for the public. Studies of the interrelationships between the economy, air pollution, and health often use empirical methods such as regression analysis, to explore the impacts of economic growth and air pollution, human health or air pollution on human health in isolation, and they rarely explore the interactions between the economy, air pollution, and health in terms of efficiency (i.e., the maximum output per unit of input resources that can be produced). Thus, this study constructed a Dynamic Network SBM efficiency model that unifies the production of economic development, air pollution, and health into a single framework. The article reports the findings of a comprehensive study of economic development, air pollution, and health management data for 30 Chinese provinces from 2015 to 2020. The results show that: 1) the overall efficiency (0.693) of China’s two stages from economic production input to healthy output from 2015 to 2020 is low, and there is much room for improvement; 2) the efficiency of economic development (0.729) is higher than the efficiency of health production (0.657), indicating that the health production stage needs to be strengthened; 3) during the study period, China’s PM2.5, SO2, and NOx control efficiency was low, at 0.786, 0.710, and 0.718, respectively, indicating that more effective measures are needed to improve environmental efficiency; and 4) there are significant differences in economic, environmental, and health efficiency across regions. China’s developed eastern provinces are more efficient in terms of economic development, health production, and air pollution control. In contrast, the central and western provinces, which are relatively backward in their economic development, are less efficient. This means that each province should implement sound policies based on its own assessment to promote sustainable economic development while enhancing air pollution mitigation and health promotion.