This paper investigates the effects of globalization on health from the perspective of trading networks. The paper employs multiple regression analysis with data on bilateral trade flows for 158 countries. Estimation results show that an increase in the number of trading partners is harmful to public health. Suppose there is an increase of 10 exporter countries, there will be a decrease of 3 years of life expectancy, an increase of 31 child deaths out of 1,000 children, an increase of 2.4 deaths out of 1,000 people, and an increase of 1 HIV-infected case out of 1,000 uninfected people for the home country.

This paper makes three contributions to the literature. First, unlike the literature that measures globalization using the trade share, import competition, trade policies, and the globalization index, this paper uses the number of trading partners (size of trading networks) as a new measure and then estimates its effect on health. Second, it develops a new identification strategy that exploits the panel structure of the bilateral trade data to estimate country fixed effects in the gravity model, and then uses the fixed effect estimates as a control function in a cross-sectional model relating health outcomes to the number of trading partners. Third, in contrast to the positive health effects of the trade share of GDP found in the literature, this paper shows that free trade could harm the health of the home country through the size of trading networks.

Authors:
Ho Cheuk Yin, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Zhejun Liu, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About the Presenter(s)
Dr HO CHEUK YIN is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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