Professor Chengfang Liu and Collaborators Publish Paper in Journal of Health Economics

Release date：2026/05/06　　Source： CCAP

On May 1, 2026, the international academic journal Journal of Health Economics published online the research paper by Professor Chengfang Liu and her collaborators, titled “The Road to Healthier Diet: Benefits of the ‘Five Vertical and Seven Horizontal’ National Trunk Highway System in China.”

Abstract (in Chinese translated to English): Billions of people worldwide still lack access to a healthy diet, with the problem concentrated mainly in rural areas of developing countries. This study uses the phased construction of China’s “Five Vertical and Seven Horizontal” (5V7H) national trunk highway system as a quasi-natural experiment to examine how major transportation investments can improve dietary quality among rural households. Based on a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) analysis, the results show that access to the 5V7H highway network increased rural residents’ dietary diversity score (DDS) by 0.326 points (a 7.1% increase) and the Chinese Healthy Eating Index (CHEI) by 2.197 points (a 4.4% increase). The effect was more pronounced for households with more children, a refrigerator, or better nutrition knowledge, whereas households with more diversified agricultural production experienced relatively weaker effects. Mechanism analysis indicates that the 5V7H connection primarily improves dietary quality through demand-side channels, including promoting non-agricultural employment, increasing household income, and enhancing dietary literacy; in contrast, supply-side channels such as improved market access or lower food prices contributed less. These findings highlight the positive role of large-scale transportation infrastructure in facilitating the transition to healthier diets in rural areas of developing countries.

Professor Chengfang Liu, Vice Dean of School of Advanced Agriculture Science of Peking University and Deputy Director of  China Center for Agricultural Policy, served as the corresponding author. Professor Xuyuan Zheng, Vice Dean of the College of Economics and Management at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, and PhD student Qinglin Lin, from the College of Economics and Management at Nanjing Agricultural University, are co-first authors. Other co-authors include Gang Xie from the School of Public Administration at Central South University and Professor Xiaohua Yu, Chair of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at the University of Göttingen, Germany.

Reference: Zheng, Xuyuan, Qinglin Lin, Gang Xie, Xiaohua Yu, and Chengfang Liu*. The Road to Healthier Diet: Benefits of the “Five Vertical and Seven Horizontal” National Trunk Highway System in China. Journal of Health Economics (2026). 

Full text link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2026.103139