The Mediating Role of Public Health between Environmental Policy Tools and Economic Development

Hui Xu, Wei Pan, Meng Xin, Cheng Hu, Wu-Lin Pan, Wan-Qiang Dai and Ge Huang
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Hui Xu: Dong Fureng Institute of Economic and Social Development, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Wei Pan: School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
Meng Xin: School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
Cheng Hu: School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Wu-Lin Pan: School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Wan-Qiang Dai: School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Ge Huang: School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Environmental pollution damages public health and affects economic development. Environmental regulation is the main way for the government to solve environmental pollution. So what type of environmental regulation works better for public health and economic development? Can environmental regulation have an influence on economic development through public health? To solve these problems, this research uses China’s provincial panel data from 2013 to 2017 to divide environmental regulation into command-control policy tools and economic incentive policy tools and uses the mediating effect model to examine the relationship among environmental regulation, public health and economic development. The results show that: (1) There is a positive correlation between economic incentive policy tools and economic development; while no significant relationship between command-control policy tools and economic development is founded; (2) The relationship between command-control policy tools and public health is not significant, while the relationship between economic incentive policy tools and public health is positive; (3) Public health does not play a mediating role between command-control policy tools and economic development but plays a partial mediating role between economic incentive policy tools and economic development. Therefore, the government should strengthen the use of economic incentive policy tools to promote public health and sustainable economic development.

Keywords: environmental regulation; sustainability; policy tool; public health; economic development; mediation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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