The Impact of Ecological Footprint, Urbanization, Education, Health Expenditure, and Industrialization on Child Mortality: Insights for Environment and Public Health in Eastern Europe

Gheorghe H. Popescu, Elvira Nica (), Tomas Kliestik, Cristina Alpopi, Ana-Madalina Potcovaru Bîgu and Sorin-Cristian Niță
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Gheorghe H. Popescu: Department of Finance, Banking and Accounting, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accounting, ”Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, 030134 Bucharest, Romania
Elvira Nica: Department of Administration and Public Management, Faculty of Administration and Public Management, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Piața Romană, 6, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
Tomas Kliestik: Department of Economics, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, University of Zilina, 010 26 Zilina, Slovakia
Cristina Alpopi: Department of Administration and Public Management, Faculty of Administration and Public Management, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Piața Romană, 6, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
Ana-Madalina Potcovaru Bîgu: Department of Administration and Public Management, Faculty of Administration and Public Management, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Piața Romană, 6, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
Sorin-Cristian Niță: UNESCO Chair for Business Administration, Faculty of Business Administration in Foreign Languages, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Piața Romană, 6, 010374 Bucharest, Romania

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the connection between child mortality in Eastern Europe and ecological footprint, urbanization, education, health expenditure, and industrialization. The study acknowledges the significance of understanding how these factors influence the infant mortality rates in this region from 1993 to 2022. The Grossman Health Outcome (H-O) model investigates the theoretical framework. For the existence of the cross-sectional dependency, mixed-order unit root, and cointegration problem, the famous Cross-Sectional Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) approach is applied. The research also used the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) to check robustness. The findings illustrated that health expenditure and education lessen the infant mortality rate in Eastern European countries. But ecological footprint, industrialization and unemployment raise the infant mortality rate. According to the CS-ARDL findings, expenditure on healthcare significantly reduces child mortality. Still, the ecological footprint significantly impacts increasing child mortality. However, the AMG and CCEMG models demonstrate that investing in education is the most effective strategy for reducing child mortality. Therefore, the government of Eastern European countries should provide more priorities in the sustainable urbanization, health expenditure, and education sectors. The robustness of the AMG and CCEMG also demonstrated the strength of the CS-ARDL findings. This research paper contributes to SDG 3 by examining the environmental and health factors that influence child mortality in Eastern Europe. Policymakers, public health professionals, and other stakeholders can use the findings to inform the development and implementation of programs that specifically target the identified causes of child mortality.

Keywords: child mortality; Eastern Europe; environment; health expenditure; ecological footprint; industrialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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