IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0274027.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agricultural non-point source pollution and health of the elderly in rural China

Author

Listed:
  • Ying Wang
  • Hang Xiong
  • Chao Chen

Abstract

Large input and high loss of chemical fertilizer are the major causes of agricultural non-point source pollution in China. Employing fertilizer loss and micro-health data, this paper analyzes the effects of chemical fertilizer loss on the health of rural elderly and the medical cost in China. Results of the difference-in-differences (DID) method indicate that one kg/ha increase in fertilizer loss alters a key medical disability index (Activities of Daily Living) by 0.0147 (0.2 percent changes) and the number of diseases by 0.0057 for rural residents of 65 and older. This is equivalent to CNY 316 million (USD 45 million) at national medical cost. Furthermore, the age of onset is younger in regions with higher fertilizer loss. One kg/ha increase of fertilizer loss advances the age of onset by 0.267 year, which will cause long-term effect on public health. Our results are robust to a variety of robustness checks.

Suggested Citation

  • Ying Wang & Hang Xiong & Chao Chen, 2022. "Agricultural non-point source pollution and health of the elderly in rural China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(10), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0274027
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0274027
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0274027&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0274027?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. Lai, Wangyang, 2017. "Pesticide use and health outcomes: Evidence from agricultural water pollution in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 93-120.
    2. Eliana La Ferrara & Alberto Chong & Suzanne Duryea, 2012. "Soap Operas and Fertility: Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 1-31, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Das Gupta, Monica & Bongaarts, John & Cleland, John, 2011. "Population, poverty, and sustainable development : a review of the evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5719, The World Bank.
    2. Ke Liu & Zhenhong Qi & Li Tan & Caiyan Yang & Canwei Hu, 2023. "Mixed Use of Chemical Pesticides and Biopesticides among Rice–Crayfish Integrated System Farmers in China: A Multivariate Probit Approach," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Yuheng Lin & Dooruj Rambaccussing & Yu Zhu, 2024. "The impact of international students in the UK on the cultural goods trade," French Stata Users' Group Meetings 2024 29, Stata Users Group.
    4. Lesly Cassin, 2018. "The effects of migration and pollution externality on cognitive skills in Caribbean economies: a Theoretical analysis," EconomiX Working Papers 2018-30, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    5. Li, Qiang & Wang, Shengying & He, Zichun & Li, Hanqiao & Xiang, Erwei, 2023. "Does stock market index adjustment affect environmental information disclosure? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Ying Zhang & Yingli Huang, 2023. "Killing Two Birds with One Stone or Missing One of Them? The Synergistic Governance Effect of China’s Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme on Pollution Control and Carbon Emission Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-25, June.
    7. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Arenas-Arroyo, Esther & Sevilla, Almudena, 2018. "Immigration enforcement and economic resources of children with likely unauthorized parents," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 63-78.
    8. Boubaker, Sabri & Liu, Pei-Zhi & Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun, 2024. "Do anti-corruption campaigns affect corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    9. Ritwik Banerjee & Nabanita Datta Gupta, 2015. "Awareness Programs and Change in Taste-Based Caste Prejudice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    10. Kjetil Bjorvatn & Alexander W. Cappelen & Linda Helgesson Sekei & Erik Ø. Sørensen & Bertil Tungodden, 2020. "Teaching Through Television: Experimental Evidence on Entrepreneurship Education in Tanzania," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2308-2325, June.
    11. Rutger Schilpzand & Jeroen Smits, 2025. "The Domestic Transition: Progress Towards Decent Living of Households in Low and Middle‐Income Countries," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(2), pages 420-442, March.
    12. Zhang, Haotian & Lu, Shengfeng & Chen, Sixia, 2024. "Does centralization of tax administration regulate tax competition? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1084-1098.
    13. Leonardo Lucchetti & Renos Vakis & Jamele Rigolini, 2016. "Left Behind [Los olvidados : pobreza crónica en América Latina y el Caribe - resumen ejecutivo]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 21552, April.
    14. Fumarco, Luca & Principe, Francesco, 2021. "More goals, fewer babies? On national team performance and birth rates," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    15. Hsu, Wen-Tai & Lu, Yi & Luo, Xuan & Zhu, Lianming, 2023. "Foreign direct investment and industrial agglomeration: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 610-639.
    16. Mayank Aggarwal & Anindya S. Chakrabarti & Chirantan Chatterjee, 2023. "Movies, stigma and choice: Evidence from the pharmaceutical industry," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1019-1039, May.
    17. Fujii, Tomoki & Shonchoy, Abu S. & Xu, Sijia, 2018. "Impact of Electrification on Children’s Nutritional Status in Rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 315-330.
    18. Zhang, Kaixia & Li, Weibing, 2024. "Understanding the puzzle of polluting companies' social responsibility," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Julia Veidt & Steven Lam & Hung Nguyen-Viet & Tran Thi Tuyet-Hanh & Huong Nguyen-Mai & Sherilee L. Harper, 2018. "Is Agricultural Intensification a Growing Health Concern? Perceptions from Waste Management Stakeholders in Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, November.
    20. Ingar Haaland & Christopher Roth & Johannes Wohlfart, 2023. "Designing Information Provision Experiments," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 3-40, March.

    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:plo:pone00:0274027. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.