E2026001                                                                       2026-01-16

Jing Li, Lin Ma, Xiao Lin Ong, Wei Yan, Junjian Yi

January 15, 2026

Abstract

We study the impact of transportation infrastructure on healthcare access and health outcomes. Using administrative data on over 600,000 hospitalizations for cerebral-cardiovascular diseases (CCVD) in Sichuan, China, we show that patients travel from low-medical-resource to high-medical-resource cities, but travel time imposes substantial barriers, especially for low-income patients. We develop and structurally estimate a dynamic spatial model in which individuals choose treatment locations by weighing the expected effectiveness of care against travel and financial costs. Counterfactual simulations indicate that, holding medical resources fixed at the 2010 level, improvements in the national transport network between 2010 and 2018 would reduce CCVD mortality by approximately 10,000 cases per year. While geographic disparities in health outcomes narrowed, gains accrued disproportionately to highincome patients.

Keywords: Transport Infrastructure, Travel Time, Healthcare Access, Health Outcomes, Mortality, CCVD.

JEL classifications: R4, I12, I14.