搜索
1RegionalDifferencesofGovernmentInvestmentintheHealthCareIndustryandEconomicGrowth—BasedontheEconomicCensusDataJiangpingTianCheng-shiShangHong-yun(Dept.ofstatistics,DongbeiUniversityofFinance&Economics,Dalian116025,China)Abstract:Thehealthcareindustryisoneofthemostimportantpartsofthethird-industry,whichdevelopmentisofgreatsignificanceforthepublichealthandeconomicgrowth.ThedatasupportfordescriptionoftherelationshipsbetweenhealthcareindustryandregionaleconomicgrowthwasprovidedbyEconomicCensusof2004.Firstly,thispaperexplainsthecharacteristicsofregionalgovernmentinvestmentinthehealthcareindustryinChina.Theauthorreachestheconclusionthatthereisgreatdifferenceofregionalgovernmentinvestment,thehealthcareindustryofmiddleandwesternregionismainlydependedongovernmentinvestmentandgovernmentinvestmentaccountsfortheinequalityofhealthservices.Then,thispaperempiricalresearchesthecontributionofgovernmentinvestmentinthehealthcareindustrytoregionaleconomicgrowthapplyinghealthproductionfunction.Theconclusionisthatinvestmentinthehealthcareindustryhasasignificantandpositiveeffectonregionaleconomicgrowth,andthecontributionofgovernmentinvestmentinthehealthcareindustrytoregionaleconomicgrowthhasobviousregionalcharacteristics.Thegovernmentinvestmentinmiddleandwesternregioncontributestoeconomicgrowthishigherthanthatoftheeasternregion,however,theconclusionisoppositeforthenon-governmentinvestment.Intheend,thispaperproposessomefiscalpolicysuggestions.Keywords:Healthcareindustry;EconomicCensus;Economicgrowth1IntroductionThehealthcareindustryisoneofthemostimportantpartsofthethird-industry,whichdevelopmentisofgreatsignificanceforpublichealthandeconomicgrowth.Inanycountry,healthcareisthecrucialfactthatinfluenceslaborforcequalityexceptforworkexperience,formaleducationandtraining.AccordingtotheWorldBankestimate,about8-10%ofworldeconomicgrowthcanbeattributedtothepopulationhealthinthepast50years.HarvardInternationalDevelopmentResearchCentre'sresearchshowedthatabout30-40%oftheAsianeconomicmiracleisobtainedfromthehealthoftheresidents.Thehealthcareindustryisasectiontosupplymedicalservicesanditsproductionispublicgoodsorquasi-publicgoods,itsdevelopmentdependsontheactivefiscalsupport.Theproperfiscalpolicycannotonlyimprovehealthservicesefficiencybutalsopromotesocialjustice.Instead,itcancausesocialwelfarlossese.ThedataofEconomicCensusin2004showsthatgovernmentinvestmentinhealthcareindustryhasobviousregionaldisparitiesineasternregion,middleregionandwesternregion.ForthelevelofthepercapitaincomeinChinaisnothigh,thisdisparitiesmayincreasethedifferenceoflivingqualityofregionalresidentsandlaborforcequality,theninfluencestheregionaleconomicgrowth.Sothispaperresearchesthecharacteristicsofcontributionofgovernmentinvestmentinhealthcareindustrytoregionaleconomicgrowthonthebaseoftheanalysisofthe2characteristicsofregionalgovernmentinvestmentinhealthcareindustryinChina,whichhasimportanttheoryvalueandactualmeaningforlocalgovernmenttounderstandthestatusofgovernmentinvestmentofthehealthcareindustry,implementefiscalpolicyandsocialeconomydevelopmentplanning.2CharacteristicsofRegionalGovernmentInvestmentinHealthCareIndustry2.1GovernmentInvestmentHasObviousRegionalDisparitiesThedataofEconomicCensusin2004showsthatthetotalgovernmentinvestmentinhealthcareindustryinChinais43,605,000,000￥in2004anditisonly9.60%oftotalinvestmentinhealthcareindustry.Inotherwords,healthcostsaremostlypayedbyresidentsandsociety,thegovernmentinvestmentisonlyasmallproportioninChina.Andthispaymentsystemmayconstraintthehealthcaredemandofresidentsandthedevelopmentofthehealthcareindustry.Tab.1Governmentinvestmentinhealthcareindustryofeachprovincesin2004provincesgovernmentinvestment(1000￥)proportionofgovernmentinvestmenttototalinvestment(%)regiongovernmentinvestment(1000￥)proportionofgovernmentinvestmenttototalinvestment(%)Beijing339019711.51Hubei12647537.38Tianjin7201647.58Hunan10600716.54Hebei12748357.37Guangdong43126827.83Shanxi12373768.47Guangxi118447410.55Neimenggu105535917.13Hainan31846614.39Liaoning129521320.61Chongqing7252059.76Jilin12093988.07Sichuan193867511.26Heilongjiang152013716.51Guizhou105278918.69Shanghai218099613.33Yunnan184715317.95Jiangsu23042406.21Xizang30695558.13Zhejiang18840565.12Shanxi89213111.04Anhui127775810.55Gansu90260120.24Fujian11596738.89Qinghai36886324.21Jiangxi95022610.48Ningxia28136315.47Shanxi25633968.27Xinjiang157975720.16Henan15460008.67Themaindifferenceisthatthelevelofgovernmentinvestmentindevelopedeasternregionishighandislowindevelopingwesternandmiddleregion.TheprovincesoflargestgovernmentinvestmentisGuangdongprovince,BeijingcityandShandongprovince,theirgovernmentinvestmentarerespectively9.89%,7.77%and5.88%ofthetotalgovernmentinvestmentinChina.TheprovincesofleastgovernmentinvestmentisXizangprovinceandNingxiaprovince,theirgovernmentinvestmentarerespectively0.70%and0.65%ofthetotalgovernmentinvestmentinChina.Overall,thegovernmentinvestmentinhealthcareindustryisdecreasingineastern,3middleandwesternregion.Tab.1showsthegovernmentinvestmentinhealthcareindustryofeachprovincein20