| Description |
Since the late 1970s, economic growth in developing countries has followed a pattern of privatization, liberalization, marketization, and a focus on economic development over human development. Postreform China has followed this pattern while at the same time maintaining several top-down strategies. Both phenomena have profoundly impacted spatial patterns of human development in the country. This paper seeks to assess China's spatial inequities in its availability of healthcare and exposure to air pollution, in the context of China's economic history, and the history of economic development thought that influenced China's transition into the modern world economy. This paper will rely on prefecture level data in 2005 and 2012 to analyze spatial inequities. A thorough historical and theoretical review is provided that is an attributed cause of spatial patterns-this highlights the importance of providing context in regional studies and in assessing factors in human development, in addition to economic factors, which are often not incorporated in other regional studies. The spatial analysis identifies inner China as experiencing the worst patterns of high pollution and low access to healthcare, relative to the rest of China, indicating a critical need for future policy to address. |
