The effectiveness of smart city policy on pollution reduction in China: new evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

Shen, Qiong; Wu, Rui; Pan, Yuxi; Feng, Yanchao

doi:10.1007/s11356-023-26010-8

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…In recent years, difference-in-differences (DID) models based on quasinatural experiments have been widely used in academic research to estimate the effects of policy implementation (Rothbard et al, 2023;Huang and Chen, 2022;Wang and Jv, 2022;Shen et al, 2023;Feng and Wang, 2021). These models effectively mitigate the influence of nonpolicy factors on the estimation results by utilizing two differences.…”

Section: Empirical Model and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Digitalization and Dependence: Evaluating the Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9 and Shaping Digital Autonomy

2024

The Journal of Economic Integration

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This study explores the impact of China's "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) on the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9 in participating developing countries, with a particular focus on the moderating role of digitalization and its long-term effect on the reliance of these countries on Chinese digitalization. Rigorous statistical methods, including parallel trend tests, regression analysis, propensity score matching (PSM), and placebo tests, ensure the reliability of the results. The findings indicate that after implementation, the BRI significantly advanced sustainable development goals in participating countries. Countries with higher levels of digitalization utilized the BRI more effectively to promote sustainable development. Further research suggests that while the initiative may increase digital dependence, higher levels of digitalization can mitigate this reliance. This study highlights the positive impact of the BRI on sustainable development, especially in digitally advanced developing countries, and offers a new perspective on reducing dependence on China.

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Section: Empirical Model and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Digitalization and Dependence: Evaluating the Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9 and Shaping Digital Autonomy

2024

The Journal of Economic Integration

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“…They found a significant reduction in haze pollution emissions as a result of SCC pilot implementation. Shen et al 37 used the DID model to explore the pathways through which SCC reduces environmental pollution. However, previous literature primarily focused on the first batch of SCC pilot cities and did not consider the three successive batches of pilot cities in the model.…”

Section: Policy Background and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of smart city construction (SCC) on pollution emissions (PE): evidence from China

Zhang,

Sun,

Zhong

2024

Sci Rep

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Based on panel data from 210 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2021, this study employs the Time-Varying Differences-in-Differences (Time-Varying DID) approach to systematically examine the impact of smart city construction on pollution emissions and its underlying mechanisms. Additionally, the Propensity Score Matching–Differences-in-Differences method is employed for further validation. The research findings indicate that Smart City Construction (SCC) significantly reduces urban Volume of Sewage Discharge (VSD), sulfur dioxide emissions (SO2), and Emissions of Fumes and Dust (EFD), thereby mitigating pollution emissions (PE) and enhancing environmental quality. Mechanism analysis reveals that SCC achieves these effects through scale effects, structural effects, and technological effects. City heterogeneity analysis shows that provincial capital cities exhibit a stronger suppression effect on pollution emissions compared to non-provincial capital cities. Moreover, cities with lower levels of education attainment demonstrate a stronger ability to curb pollution emissions, while larger cities exhibit a more pronounced impact on mitigating pollution emissions. The marginal contributions of this study mainly consist of three aspects: Firstly, it enriches the literature on environmental impact factors by assessing, for the first time, the influence of SCC on PE. Secondly, a comprehensive approach is employed, integrating VSD, EFD, SO2 data, and economic and pollution data at the city level. Time-Varying DID is used to evaluate the policy effects of SCC. Finally, the study analyzes the impact mechanisms of SCC policy on environmental emissions from various perspectives.

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“…Although pollution relocation can temporarily comply with the regulation requirements and only partially improves local air quality, the polluting industries will still possibly deteriorate air quality of neighboring places due to the spatial spillover of pollution 22 , 23 , 24 . Particularly, asymmetric interactions in environmental regulation enforcement between geographically adjacent areas can exacerbate the spatial self-selection effect of polluting plants in China 25,26,27 .…”

Section: Environmental Regulation and Air Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is important to note that the spatial spillover of pollution can lead to neighboring areas also experiencing a decline in air quality as a result of the relocation of polluting industries 18,19 . In China, the asymmetric enforcement of environmental regulations between geographically adjacent areas can exacerbate this spatial self-selection effect of polluting plants [20][21][22] .…”

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confidence: 99%

The Ambient Air Quality Standards, green innovation, and urban air quality: Evidence from China

Zhang,

2023

Preprint

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As the Chinese economy entering the transition period, the environmental issues have become the one of most concerned topics. Based on panel data of 284 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2006-2019, this study discusses the regulatory effects of the Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS) on urban air quality and its spatial spillover using the various DID models, and further builds a serial multiple mediation model to analyze the channel role of green innovation. The results reveal that (1) the implementation of the AAQS has a positive regulation effect on urban air quality, yet with a “inverted V-shaped” trend; (2) local implementation of the AAQS worsens the air quality of geographically adjacent cities within 400 km, while the effect is reversed for cities that are beyond 400 km; (3) heterogeneity analysis shows that the AAQS improves the air quality of central cities, medium-sized cities, cities of weak-intensity of environmental governance, recession or regeneration resource-based cities; and (4) it might reduce urban air quality only by inducing the green innovation per se. However, either by energy-use effect or industrial-structure effect triggered by the green innovation, can the AAQS favorably enhance urban air quality.

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The effectiveness of smart city policy on pollution reduction in China: new evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

Cited by 20 publications

References 66 publications

Digitalization and Dependence: Evaluating the Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9 and Shaping Digital Autonomy

Digitalization and Dependence: Evaluating the Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9 and Shaping Digital Autonomy

The impact of smart city construction (SCC) on pollution emissions (PE): evidence from China

The Ambient Air Quality Standards, green innovation, and urban air quality: Evidence from China

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