ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Health Economics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1588944
This article is part of the Research TopicHuman Health Affected by Changing Ecological Environment in the Rapid UrbanizationView all 9 articles
The Impact of In-Situ Urbanization on Residents' Health: Evidence from CFPS
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2Southeast University, Nanjing, China
- 3Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Huhhot, China
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This study investigates the health effects of in-situ urbanization utilizing panel data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) tracking surveys of 2010, 2012, and 2014. Employing a difference-indifferences (DID) model, the analysis reveals a statistically significant positive impact of in-situ urbanization on individual health. Specifically, individuals subjected to in-situ urbanization policies exhibit a 6.7% reduction in the reported incidence of physical discomfort within the preceding two weeks. Heterogeneity in the health effects of in-situ urbanization is observed across demographic strata, including gender, age, and educational attainment. Notably, the health-enhancing effects are more pronounced for female respondents compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, a discernible age-related disparity is evident, with individuals below the age of 60 demonstrating significant health improvements, while those aged 60 and above do not manifest statistically significant health gains. In terms of educational attainment, individuals with educational levels below high school experience a greater magnitude of health improvement attributable to in-situ urbanization.The mechanism through which in-situ urbanization improves individual health is mediated by an increase in household income. Structurally, this income augmentation is characterized by an increase in operating and property income, coupled with a concomitant decrease in transfer income.Consequently, the elevation of operating and property income emerges as a salient intermediate mechanism facilitating the health improvement effects of in-situ urbanization.
Keywords: in-situ urbanization, Health, Difference-in-differences, household income, CFPS
Received: 13 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Zhang, Zhao and Gao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shuoxuan Zhang, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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