The impact of internet development on the health of Chinese residents: Transmission mechanisms and empirical tests

Abstract

The development of internet information technology has promoted the integration of modern information technology with medical treatment. Chinese interprovincial panel data from 2006 to 2017 are used to study the impact of internet development on the health of Chinese residents. Specifically, this paper builds a system for evaluating four dimensions of internet development (internet popularity, internet infrastructure, internet information resources, and internet applications) and uses the entropy method to calculate and analyze China's internet development level. The OLS, FGLS and IV models are used to analyze the impact of internet development on the health of Chinese residents. The regional heterogeneity of the impact of internet development on the health of Chinese residents is studied in the three major regions, i.e., eastern, central and western China. The transmission mechanisms through which internet development affects residents' health were also investigated. Study results show that the development of the Internet significantly suppresses the mortality rate and improves residents' health. In addition, the development of the Internet can further reduce the mortality rate by promoting the development of science and technology, education, medicine, urbanization and openness.