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http://dx.doi.org/10.15266/KEREA.2020.29.1.023

Empirical Analysis on Determinants of Air Pollution in China  

Li, Dmitriy D. (Department of Economics, Chonnam National University)
Wang, Wen (Beijing Conference Management Institute)
Bae, Jeong Hwan (Department of Economics, Chonnam National University)
Publication Information
Environmental and Resource Economics Review / v.29, no.1, 2020 , pp. 23-45 More about this Journal
Abstract
The rapid economic growth has brought tremendous pressure on the environment and caused severe air pollution in China. This study empirically examines causes of air pollution in China. Panel-corrected standard errors procedure (PCSE) was used to analyze major determinants of increasing or reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) in 30 Chinese provinces. The estimation results show that SO2 emission is mitigated as per capita regional GDP increases, but the relation between emission of NOX and per capita regional GDP is found to have an inverse N-shaped curve, which implies that emission of NOX is ultimately expected to decline with economic growth. As for increasing factors of air pollutants, electricity consumption is a significant common source of SO2 and NOX emissions. Moreover, the results show that increment of coal consumption significantly affects emission of SO2 while increase of natural gas consumption reduce emission of SO2. On the other side, investment in energy industry, and investment on treatment of waste gases are determinants of mitigating emissions of SO2, but have no impact on NOX. Consumption of diesel, truck ratio and number of vehicles increase emission of NOX. Meanwhile, higher precipitation rate is a common determinant of mitigating emissions of SO2 and NOX. Policy implications are suggested in the conclusion.
Keywords
Determinants; Air pollution in China; Emission of $SO_2$ and $NO_X$; PCSE procedure;
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