Public Health System and Socio-Economic Development Coupling Based on Systematic Theory: Evidence from China

Abstract

This paper focus on the quantitative measurement of public health systems and its mismatch with socio-economic development. Based on systematic theory, we divide the public health system into four sub-systems: resource inputs, planning in decision-making, operations, and service outputs. We also provide a method to analyse the ability to match between the public health system and social-economic development by using the grey correlation and coupling method. Then we introduce data from China as a case of empirical research. The main findings are as follows: (1) China’s public health system has progressed from 2012 to 2019, and the development of China’s public health system is typically “input-driven”. Second, the level of public health management in China lacks sustainability. (2) The main reason for this problem is the mismatch between the central and local governments in China in terms of public health management authority. (3) Third, the coupling between China’s public health system and socio-economics development has shown a decreasing trend, which indicates an increasingly significant mismatch problem between public health and economic growth, urbanization, and population aging. Our study will enrich the understanding of the relationship between the public health system and socio-economics development.