Contribution of safety to economic growth: A case study of China mining industry

Safety input is a way of safeguarding mining, as well as one of main reasons for the increased growth rates of Total Factor Productivity (TFP). To figure out the contribution of the safety input to mining economic growth, a new production safety index system with six principal items describing China mining safety was constructed. The study found that China mining production safety level was improved continuously, a more than 17-fold increase from 1991 to 2008. Using co-integration theory and dynamic construction model, a mining economic growth model was established based on the new production safety index system. The empirical results prove that labor input and capital input are still major factors of promoting mining economic growth, and the production safety not only contributed the short-term GDP growth of mining industry but also helped present 8.8% of contribution rate to the long-term elasticity coefficient.