Chen Hongwen, Xu Junbing, Liu Jianzheng
Department of International Economics and Business, School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
New Huadu Business School, Minjiang University, Fuzhou, China.
Front Public Health. 2022 Apr 5;10:798686. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.798686. eCollection 2022.
Exports can boost the economy, but may also cause harm to health through, for example, increased pollution and working hours. Although academic research extensively covers the impact of trade on health, few studies examine the mechanisms through which export expansion affects adult illness or injury within the past 4 weeks (illness/injury).
We utilized China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the relationship between export expansion and adult illness/injury. We explored the possible mechanisms and the heterogeneity of these associations. Our methodology was based on the analysis of China's Health and Nutrition Survey data, Chinese Customs databases, and China's Statistical Yearbook.
Export expansion, induced by China's accession to the WTO, has a significantly positive effect on adult illness/injury [average effect (AE): 1.83%; 95% CI: 0.38-3.28%]. Our results remain robust following a series of robustness tests. Moreover, the effects of export expansion on adult illness/injury are more pronounced among urban residents (AE: 5.32%; 95% CI: 2.46-8.18%), women (AE: 2.68%; 95% CI: 0.57-4.80%), and higher-income groups (AE: 5.90%; 95% CI: 2.53-9.27%).
We find a statistically significant and positive effect of export expansion on adult illness/injury.
出口可以促进经济增长，但也可能通过例如增加污染和工作时长等方式对健康造成危害。尽管学术研究广泛涵盖了贸易对健康的影响，但在过去四周内，很少有研究探讨出口扩张影响成人疾病或损伤（疾病/损伤）的机制。
我们将中国加入世界贸易组织（WTO）作为一项准自然实验，以研究出口扩张与成人疾病/损伤之间的关系。我们探究了这些关联的可能机制及其异质性。我们的方法基于对中国健康与营养调查数据、中国海关数据库以及中国统计年鉴的分析。
中国加入WTO所引发的出口扩张对成人疾病/损伤具有显著的正向影响[平均效应（AE）：1.83%；95%置信区间：0.38 - 3.28%]。经过一系列稳健性检验后，我们的结果依然稳健。此外，出口扩张对成人疾病/损伤的影响在城市居民（AE：5.32%；95%置信区间：2.46 - 8.18%）、女性（AE：2.68%；95%置信区间：0.57 - 4.80%）以及高收入群体（AE：5.90%；95%置信区间：2.53 - 9.27%）中更为显著。
我们发现出口扩张对成人疾病/损伤具有统计学上显著的正向影响。
