Public Health Development and Economic Growth: Evidence From Chinese Cities.

This article examines the impact of urban public health development—measured through pollution control and health care indicators—on economic growth in 283 Chinese cities from 2004 to 2017. Using fixed effect and two-stage least squares models, the study finds that improvements in public health significantly promote real GDP growth, with a 0.1 unit increase in the public health development index raising real GDP growth by approximately 5 percentage points. The relationship varies by urbanization level, employment population scale, and government intervention, with positive effects observed only when urbanization exceeds 70.87%, employment scale is sufficiently large, and government intervention remains moderate. The study identifies two main mechanisms for this effect: reducing mortality and increasing human capital accumulation, with mortality reduction having a stronger influence on economic growth. These findings suggest that targeted government investment in public health infrastructure and pollution control can enhance economic development, especially in highly urbanized and appropriately governed cities.