Human development associated with environmental quality in China

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the connection between overall environmental quality and human development. Based on China’s provincial panel data from 2004 to 2017, this study constructed the Environment Degradation Index (EDI) and Human Development Index (HDI) to measure environmental pollution and human development, respectively, and it used the Simultaneous Equations Model (SEM) to assess the relationship between them. The results showed that there was an inverted U-shaped relationship found between EDI and HDI, and the coefficients of the first and second power of HDI were 5.2781 and -2.3476, respectively. Meanwhile, the results also confirmed that environmental pollution, in turn, delayed regional economic growth, and every 0.01 unit increase in EDI was correlated with a 3.15% decrease in GDP per capita. It is recommended that the government should speed up human development to surpass the turning point of the inverted U-shaped curve soonest possible.

The carbon emission and life expectancy nexus: mediating roles of agriculture and foreign direct investment in Nigeria

“…The authors went further to recommend more energy-efficient products and adoption of more renewable energies in the industrial sectors. Similarly, Li and Xu (2021) did a study on the environmental quality and human development nexus in China within the period of 2004 and 2017. They used the EDI to measure pollution and the HDI to measure human development.…”

Human activities and environmental quality: evidence beyond the conventional EKC hypothesis

“…CO 2 is caused by one-way causation from fiscal decentralisation, human capital, & GDP. Li and Xu (2021) 3SLS From 2004 to 2017, China Inverted U-shape relationship between human development and environmental pollution. IT ↑ EQ and investment in physical and human capital ↑ the economy, where as pollution ↓ the economy.…”

“…(2021) , Kim and Go (2020) , and Chowdhury and Islam (2017) . Li and Xu (2021) performed an alternative measurement of EQ via the environmental deterioration index using just six indicators. Comparatively speaking, the current study provides a detailed investigation because it evaluates EQ broadly (including 32 indicators and 11 issue categories).…”

“…In addition, the existing research, except for Khan et al. (2019) , Li and Xu (2021) , and Kumar and Datta (2021) employ a single model and ignore the feedback analysis. Furthermore, even though the studies mentioned above use SEM, they employ only one pollution indicator, overlook fundamental econometric tests, and use a linear model (like Kumar and Datta (2021) ).…”

“…(2019) , Jiang et al. (2020) , Malik (2021) , Li and Xu (2021) , and Kumar and Datta (2021) . A comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the relationship between EQ and economic growth is not provided by analysing the relationship between economic growth and the environment.…”