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Environmental decentralization, environmental public service, and public health: evidence from 289 cities in China

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Abstract

Effective supply of environmental public services (EPS) is important to guarantee the mitigation of residential pollution exposure risk. This study analyzes the impact of the supply efficiency of EPS on residential health through the sample of 289 cities in China by fixed-effect model and threshold regression model. The results show that: (1) Improving the efficiency of EPS can significantly increase the efficiency of pollution control, and improve the environmental quality and health level of residents. (2) Improving the efficiency of EPS can have a greater positive effect on residents' health in areas with high-level population aging, poor medical condition, and low population density. (3) Environmental decentralization weakens the positive effect of EPS on residential health. Giving more power of environmental management to local governments may be detrimental to pollution control. Therefore, differentiated strategies of EPS should be developed to realize the equalization of basic public services with healthcare and environmental protection. It is necessary to strengthen central environmental supervision and establish resident offices for environmental supervision.

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Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from General projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China: "Researches on Precise, Efficient and Sustainable Financial Support for High-Quality Development of China's Natural Resources Industry" (20BGL189).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School Hospital, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Huimin Ma

  2. School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Danyang Di

  3. School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Lin Li & Wei Zhang

  4. Research Centre of Resource and Environmental Economics, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Lin Li

  5. School of Public Economics and Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Jianmei Wang

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  1. Huimin Ma
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Huimin Ma and Danyang Di carried out the model analyses and contributed to writing the paper. Wei Zhang, Lin Li, and Jianmei Wang contributed to the collection of data and reviewed the literature.

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Correspondence to Danyang Di.

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The authors gratefully acknowledge support from General projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China: "Researches on Precise, Efficient and Sustainable Financial Support for High-Quality Development of China's Natural Resources Industry" (20BGL189).

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Ma, H., Di, D., Li, L. et al. Environmental decentralization, environmental public service, and public health: evidence from 289 cities in China. Environ Geochem Health 44, 2905–2918 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-01112-9

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