Relationships of Environmental Pollution, Economic Cost, and Public Health: A Structural Equation Modeling Study  

Abstract

As the Philippines chases sustainable economic growth, the issues of environmental pollution and public health must be addressed well. The problems caused by environmental pollution, such as the degradation of environmental quality, the destruction of the ecological balance and the damage to public health, have gradually become key factors that constrain sustainable economic growth and social development. With this phenomenon, there is growing realization that economic development, environmental pollution and sustainable public health management are mutually supporting goals.  
This paper explores the relationship of economic cost and the effects on public health of environmental pollution in Philippine context based on the respondents’ awareness, perception and attitude through Structural Equation Modeling. Quantitative method was utilized in the study by selecting 400 respondents to complete a five-section survey which included a Likert-scale indicating the constructs of the main latent variables. The results were analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis in Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The re-specified model proves that 5 latent variables have significant effects to each other as they are observed to have direct and indirect relationships. It is further concluded that awareness on environmental condition can impact the perceived effect of it to both public health and economy, and this perception can both lead to positive attitude towards environmental protection. 
The research tool verified the items that are essential indicators of the recognized unobserved variables. It proves that the 5 latent variables namely, Awareness on Current Environmental Condition; Perceived Effect of Environmental Pollution to Public Health; Perceived Effect of Environmental Pollution to Economy; Attitude towards Environmental Protection and Public Health; and Attitude towards Environmental Protection and Economy are all significant and have significant effects to each other as they are observed to have direct and indirect relationships. As the result of the study, it is found out that there are 6 direct relationships and there are 4 indirect relationships exist between latent variables. Awareness on Environmental Current Condition directly affects the Perception on Effects Environmental Pollution to Public Health and to Economy. Also, the Perceived Effects of Environmental Pollution to Public Health directly affects the Perceived Effect of Environmental Pollution to Economy and a strong direct effect to the Attitude towards Environmental Protection and Public Health is concluded. Also, Attitude towards Environmental Protection and Economy is strongly affected by the Perceived Effect of the Environmental Pollution to Economy. The results suggest that an increase on Attitude towards Environmental Protection and Public Health suggest a decrease on Attitude towards Environmental Protection and Economy. 
There is a mediated effect of Awareness to Environmental Pollution to Perceived Effects of Environmental Pollution to Economy; Attitude towards Environmental Protection and Public Health; and to Attitude towards Environmental Protection and Economic Cost. Also, there is indirect effect of Perceived Effect of Environmental Pollution to Public Health to Attitude towards Environmental Protection and Economic Costs. The results show that the estimated ratio of the healthcare expenditure attributed to pollution to the Gross domestic Product (GDP) of the country is almost 0.8% to 0.9%. Hence, the estimated economic damage of the pollution to public health is significant and unambiguous.

Keywords 
Structural Equation Modeling, Environmental Pollution, Economic Cost, Public Health, Confirmatory Factor Analysis