Proceedings of the 2026 2nd International Conference on Data Mining and Project Management (DMPM 2026)

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Who is Paying for Healthcare and School Enrollment? —A Study Based on County-Level Panel Data in China from 2000 to 2023

Authors
Zhe Li1, *, Di Hu1, Wushen Huang1, Ziyun Wang2
1Faculty of Finance, City University of Macau, Macau, China
2School of Accounting, Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology, Haikou, China
*Corresponding author. Email: F25092100152@cityu.edu.mo
Corresponding Author
Zhe Li
Available Online 28 May 2026.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6239-689-0_8How to use a DOI?
Keywords
County Public Finance; Fiscal Pressure; Healthcare; Compulsory Education; Unit Fiscal Burden
Abstract

This paper proposes a simple unit fiscal burden (UFB) framework to track sector-specific cost dynamics in local public services. Using county-level panel data in China from 2000–2023, we construct UFB measures for healthcare and primary education as sectoral public expenditure per unit of service capacity (hospital beds and primary-school enrollment), expressed in logs. We document a persistent divergence in which expenditure grows much faster than capacity, implying sustained increases in unit burdens. Fixed-effects regressions show that both fiscal capacity (per-capita budget revenue) and fiscal pressure (the expenditure-to-revenue ratio) are positively and significantly associated with UFB in both sectors. Moreover, the association between fiscal capacity and UFB is stronger in high-pressure counties, consistent with tighter budget constraints amplifying cost intensity rather than facilitating proportional capacity expansion. The proposed indicators provide a practical tool for monitoring fiscal risk and service-cost inflation at the local level.

Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2026 2nd International Conference on Data Mining and Project Management (DMPM 2026)
Series
Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research
Publication Date
28 May 2026
ISBN
978-94-6239-689-0
ISSN
2352-5428
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6239-689-0_8How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhe Li
AU  - Di Hu
AU  - Wushen Huang
AU  - Ziyun Wang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/28
TI  - Who is Paying for Healthcare and School Enrollment? —A Study Based on County-Level Panel Data in China from 2000 to 2023
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 2nd International Conference on Data Mining and Project Management (DMPM 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 70
EP  - 82
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-689-0_8
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-689-0_8
ID  - Li2026
ER  -