Environmental and economic effects of sulfur dioxide emissions trading pilot scheme in China: A quasi-experiment

Abstract

In this study, we consider the sulfur dioxide emissions trading pilot scheme (SETPS) of China, with pilot provinces as the treatment group and other provinces as the control group. We employ the difference-in-differences method to estimate the effects of the SETPS on pollution mitigation and economic growth. Results show that the SETPS plays a robust role both in China’s industrial sulfur dioxide abatement and in economic growth. Furthermore, by applying regression analysis to explore regional heterogeneity, we find that it has a stronger effect on industrial sulfur dioxide reduction in the Central China than it does in the Eastern and Western China, and it also exerts a positive influence on economic growth in the Western China. Moreover, a time-trend analysis indicates that the pollution reduction effect of the SETPS has decreased, while the economic growth effect has slightly increased since 2007.

Carbon Emissions Trading and Sustainable Development in China: Empirical Analysis Based on the Coupling Coordination Degree Model

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Can the Target Responsibility System of Air Pollution Control Achieve a Win-Win Situation of Pollution Reduction and Efficiency Enhancement?

“…In order to test the impact of the environmental target responsibility system on firm's pollutant emissions, this paper constructs a DID model as follows (Long et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2018;Wu et al, 2019;Chen et al, 2021):…”

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