Abstract: The radiation impact of public health fiscal expenditure in provincial capitals is an important perspective to explore the construction path and development mode of provincial public health system. Based on the“siphonic effect”and“diffusing effect”, this paper uses the panel data of 233 prefecture-level cities to conduct theoretical construction and empirical exploration on the radiation impact of public health financial expenditure in provincial capitals. The results show that, in terms of the radiating capacity, although the radiating capacity of public health financial expenditure in provincial capitals is increasing, only the relative changes of the radiating capacity in central and northeast provincial capitals are consistent with the absolute changes, and the radiation intensity is increased and the scope is expanded. In terms of the radiation effect, the“diffusing effect”is greater than the “siphonic effect”, and the radiation impact of public health financial expenditure in provincial capitals is generally positive, that is, through the“double engine”drive of increasing the share deviation and strengthening structural advantages, it can significantly stimulate the incremental expansion of the public health financial expenditure in non-provincial capital cities. Further analysis shows that the radiation impact and action path of public health financial expenditure in provincial capitals have significant regionalheterogeneity, Therefore, in order to promote the network construction and coordinated development of urban clusters of modern public health system, we should give full play to the demonstration effect of provincial capitals and provide supporting measures according to local conditions.

Key words: public health spending, radiation effects, provincial capital, non-capital city, siphonic effect, diffusing effect