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Environmental regulation, local legislation and pollution control in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2021

Qun Bao Open the ORCID record for Qun Bao [Opens in a new window] ,
Min Shao  and
Dali Yang
Qun Bao
Affiliation:
School of Economics, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
Min Shao*
Affiliation:
School of Economics, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
Dali Yang
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: shaominyaya@126.com
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Abstract

This paper conducts a novel empirical analysis of the effect of environmental regulation on local pollution emissions by taking 84 cases of local legislation among 31 provinces in China during 1990–2009. We combine the matching methodology and difference-in-difference method to estimate the causal effect of provincial environmental legislation. Our estimation uncovers that there is no significant pollution abatement effect, however, environmental legislation helps to decrease local pollution emission only for those provinces that have stricter enforcement. Such results remain robust while considering the time lag effect, different types of pollutants, choice of different comparison groups and using of synthetic control method. Generally, our study shows the importance of the enforcement for environmental legislation in China.

Keywords

enforcement of lawenvironmental regulationlocal legislation

JEL classification

L51: Economics of Regulation K32: Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , August 2021 , pp. 321 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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