How Does Agricultural Green Transformation Improve Residents’ Health? Empirical Evidence from China

Xiuju Feng, Yunchen Zheng, Woraphon Yamaka () and Jianxu Liu
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Xiuju Feng: School of Business, Shandong University of Political Science and Law, Jinan 250014, China
Yunchen Zheng: School of Business, Shandong University of Political Science and Law, Jinan 250014, China
Woraphon Yamaka: Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
Jianxu Liu: Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: Promoting green and sustainable agriculture is of great significance for ensuring food security and addressing global challenges. Meanwhile, health has increasingly become a global concern. Nutrition and health are the purpose of agricultural production. As two major global issues, how agriculture empowers human health has long been discussed. Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2003 to 2021, this paper studies the impact of agricultural green transformation (AGT) on residents’ health and explores its impact mechanism. The empirical results show that: (1) AGT in China has significantly reduced the average mortality rate and maternal mortality rate and significantly increased the average life expectancy, indicating that AGT in China has significantly improved the health level. The conclusions of robustness testing methods such as replacing AGT indicators and controlling endogeneity are still valid; and (2) The impact of AGT on residents’ health depends on the regional economic level, and there is a threshold effect. Compared with low-income areas, the positive effects of AGT in high-income areas on residents’ health are more pronounced; and (3) Agricultural carbon emissions play an intermediary effect between AGT and residents’ health, and AGT can improve residents’ health by reducing carbon emissions. The level of local education development plays a moderating role in the relationship between AGT and residents’ health. Agricultural policy implications include enhancing the ability to protect and utilize agricultural resources, promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of agriculture, and taking a more scientific and systematic approach towards the complex diversity of health risk factors.

Keywords: agricultural sustainability; agricultural green transformation (AGT); health; agricultural policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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