IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v18y2009is2ps137-s146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional inequality in China's health care expenditures

Author

Listed:
  • Win Lin Chou
  • Zijun Wang

Abstract

This paper has two parts. The first part examines the regional health expenditure inequality in China by testing two hypotheses on health expenditure convergence. Cross‐section regressions and cluster analysis are used to study the health expenditure convergence and to identify convergence clusters. We find no single nationwide convergence, only convergence by cluster. In the second part of the paper, we investigate the long‐run relationship between health expenditure inequality, income inequality, and provincial government budget deficits (BD) by using new panel cointegration tests with health expenditure data in China's urban and rural areas. We find that the income inequality and real provincial government BD are useful in explaining the disparity in health expenditure prevailing between urban and rural areas. In order to reduce health‐spending inequality, one long‐run policy suggestion from our findings is for the government to implement more rapid economic development and stronger financing schemes in poorer rural areas. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Win Lin Chou & Zijun Wang, 2009. "Regional inequality in China's health care expenditures," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S2), pages 137-146, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:18:y:2009:i:s2:p:s137-s146
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.1511
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.1511
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.1511?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joakim Westerlund & David L. Edgerton, 2008. "A Simple Test for Cointegration in Dependent Panels with Structural Breaks," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(5), pages 665-704, October.
    2. Westerlund, Joakim & Edgerton, David L., 2007. "A panel bootstrap cointegration test," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 185-190, December.
    3. Liu, Yuanli & Hsiao, William C. & Eggleston, Karen, 1999. "Equity in health and health care: the Chinese experience," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 49(10), pages 1349-1356, November.
    4. Zhang, Xiaobo & Kanbur, Ravi, 2005. "Spatial inequality in education and health care in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 189-204.
    5. Bart Hobijn & Philip Hans Franses, 2000. "Asymptotically perfect and relative convergence of productivity," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(1), pages 59-81.
    6. Theo Hitiris & John Nixon, 2001. "Convergence of health care expenditure in the EU countries," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 223-228.
    7. Chou, Win Lin, 2007. "Explaining China's regional health expenditures using LM-type unit root tests," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 682-698, July.
    8. Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Jonsson, Bengt, 2000. "International comparisons of health expenditure: Theory, data and econometric analysis," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 11-53, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Winnie Yip & Adam Wagstaff & William C. Hsiao, 2009. "Economic analysis of China's health care system: turning a new page," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S2), pages 3-6, July.
    2. Halvor Mehlum & Ragnar Torvik & Simone Valente, 2013. "China s Savings Multiplier," Working Papers No 4/2013, Centre for Applied Macro- and Petroleum economics (CAMP), BI Norwegian Business School.
    3. Qin, Xuezheng & Hsieh, Chee-Ruey, 2014. "Economic growth and the geographic maldistribution of health care resources: Evidence from China, 1949-2010," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 228-246.
    4. Masayoshi Hayashi, 2011. "The effects of medical factors on transfer deficits in Public Assistance in Japan: a quantile regression analysis," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 287-307, December.
    5. Youhong Lin & Feng Liu & Peng Xu, 2021. "Effects of drought on infant mortality in China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 248-269, February.
    6. Shen, Yuying, 2014. "Community building and mental health in mid-life and older life: Evidence from China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 209-216.
    7. Chen, Yuyu & Jin, Ginger Zhe, 2012. "Does health insurance coverage lead to better health and educational outcomes? Evidence from rural China," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 1-14.
    8. JunQiang Liu & Tao Chen, 2013. "Sleeping money: investigating the huge surpluses of social health insurance in China," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 319-331, December.
    9. Vasudeva N. R. Murthy & Albert A. Okunade, 2014. "Population health status and economic growth in Chinese provinces: some policy implications," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 377-382, April.
    10. Jiaoling Huang & Li Yuan & Hong Liang, 2020. "Which Matters for Medical Utilization Equity under Universal Coverage: Insurance System, Region or SES," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-17, June.
    11. Ambar, Rabnawaz, 2015. "Corruption, Inequality and Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 70375, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.
    12. Wen-Yi CHEN & Yu-Hui LIN, 2016. "Co-Movement of Healthcare Financing in OECD Countries: Evidence from Discrete Wavelet Analyses," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(3), pages 40-56, September.
    13. Luigi Bonatti & Andrea Fracasso, 2016. "Modelling The Transition Towards The Renminbi'S Full Convertibility: Implications For China'S Growth," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(S1), pages 146-170, December.
    14. Wen-Yi Chen, 2013. "Does healthcare financing converge? Evidence from eight OECD countries," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 279-300, December.
    15. Yip, Winnie & Hsiao, William, 2009. "China's health care reform: A tentative assessment," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 613-619, December.
    16. Yingru Li, 2012. "The spatial variation of China's regional inequality in human development," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 263-278, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xiao Tan, 2017. "Explaining provincial government health expenditures in China: evidence from panel data 2007–2013," China Finance and Economic Review, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Fengping Tian & Jiti Gao & Ke Yang, 2018. "A quantile regression approach to panel data analysis of health‐care expenditure in Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(12), pages 1921-1944, December.
    3. Jean-Paul Fitoussi & Francesco Saraceno, 2008. "The Intergenerational Content of Social Spending: Health Care and Sustainable Growth in China," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2008-27, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    4. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6741 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Joan Costa‐Font & Marin Gemmill & Gloria Rubert, 2011. "Biases in the healthcare luxury good hypothesis?: a meta‐regression analysis," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 174(1), pages 95-107, January.
    6. Karen Eggleston & Li Ling & Meng Qingyue & Magnus Lindelow & Adam Wagstaff, 2008. "Health service delivery in China: a literature review," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 149-165, February.
    7. Markus Eberhardt & Francis Teal, 2011. "Econometrics For Grumblers: A New Look At The Literature On Cross‐Country Growth Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 109-155, February.
    8. Aydin, Mucahit & Erdem, Azad, 2024. "Analyzing the impact of resource productivity, energy productivity, and renewable energy consumption on environmental quality in EU countries: The moderating role of productivity," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    9. Yilmaz Bayar & Djula Borozan & Marius Dan Gavriletea, 2021. "Banking sector stability and economic growth in post‐transition European Union countries," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 949-961, January.
    10. Jorge José Luis Reynoso-González. & Adrián De León Arias., 2021. "Crecimiento económico y gasto público en salud según población objetivo en México. (Economic Growth and Public Spending on Health According to Target Population in Mexico)," Ensayos Revista de Economia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Economia, vol. 0(1), pages 89-114, May.
    11. Adam Wagstaff & Winnie Yip & Magnus Lindelow & William C. Hsiao, 2009. "China's health system and its reform: a review of recent studies," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(S2), pages 7-23, July.
    12. Chuanchuan Zhang & Xiaoyan Lei & John Strauss & Yaohui Zhao, 2017. "Health Insurance and Health Care among the Mid‐Aged and Older Chinese: Evidence from the National Baseline Survey of CHARLS," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 431-449, April.
    13. Joan Costa‐Font & Jordi Pons‐Novell, 2007. "Public health expenditure and spatial interactions in a decentralized national health system," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 291-306, March.
    14. Li, Zeyun & Qadus, Abdul & Maneengam, Apichit & Mabrouk, Fatma & Shahid, Muhammad Sadiq & Timoshin, Anton, 2022. "Technological innovation, crude oil volatility, and renewable energy dimensions in N11 countries: Analysis based on advance panel estimation techniques," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 204-212.
    15. Eriksson, Tor & Pan, Jay & Qin, Xuezheng, 2014. "The intergenerational inequality of health in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 392-409.
    16. Chen, Jie & Huang, Shoujun & Ajaz, Tahseen, 2022. "Natural resources management and technological innovation under EKC framework: A glimmer of hope for sustainable environment in newly industrialized countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Sevgi SEZER, 2017. "The effects of real exchange rates and income on the trade balance: A second generation panel data analysis for transition economies and Turkey," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(2(611), S), pages 171-186, Summer.
    18. E. Van de Poel & O. O'Donnell & E. Van Doorslaer, 2012. "Is there a health penalty of China's rapid urbanization?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 367-385, April.
    19. Fakhri J. Hasanov & Zeeshan Khan & Muzzammil Hussain & Muhammad Tufail, 2021. "Theoretical Framework for the Carbon Emissions Effects of Technological Progress and Renewable Energy Consumption," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 810-822, September.
    20. Shu Wu & Majed Alharthi & Weihua Yin & Qaiser Abbas & Adnan Noor Shah & Saeed ur Rahman & Jamal Khan, 2021. "The Carbon-Neutral Energy Consumption and Emission Volatility: The Causality Analysis of ASEAN Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-14, May.
    21. Dongjin Chen & Youxing Lang, 2021. "The cream‐skimming effect in China's health care services: A mixed methods study," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 113-133, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:18:y:2009:i:s2:p:s137-s146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.