Time-Spatial Convergence of Air Pollution and Regional Economic Growth in China

Abstract

Abstract:The haze pollution caused by fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) emissions has become one of the most crucial topics of sustainable environmental governance in China. Using the average concentration of PM 2.5 in China's key cities from 2000 to 2012, as measured by aerosol optical depth, this study tested the time-spatial convergence of fine particulate matter pollution in China. The results show that there is a trend of absolute convergence between timespan and China's PM 2.5 emissions. At the same time, in the geographic areas divided by the east, middle and west zones, there is a significant difference in the convergence rate of PM 2.5. The growth rate of PM 2.5 in the middle and west zones is significantly higher than that of the east zone. The correlation test between regional economic growth and PM 2.5 emissions suggest a significant positive N-type Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) after considering spatial lag and spatial error effect.

Environmental Accounting of Financial Development and Foreign Investment: Spatial Analyses of East Asia

“…A wide variety of studies conducted on the topic so far is mostly limited to testing the existence of EKC in the Asia region [3,19] or to limit the scope to find the monotonic effect of different variables on the pollution emissions in South and Southeast Asia [15][16][17][18] and does not proceed to incorporate spatial effects. Other than studies conducted on China [1,2,[5][6][7][8][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], no extensive research has been done on EKC with the prevalence of spatial effects in the panel of East Asia region which is a vast research gap that this study focuses on filling.…”

“…Using data from 2010-2012 from China, Pu [8] argued that there is a spatial difference between several parts of the country regarding the convergence between growth and emissions rate. While the study has landed on robust conclusions, it needs further evidence using panel data that can support this inference.…”

“…Xiaong et al [20] have tested the effect of FMD on CO 2 emissions in a single country case of China, but no study has yet tested the effect of FMD in a panel of East Asia. Additionally, the role of spatial dependency is something that is scant in the empirical environment literature; although, a good number of studies have investigated the spatial effects in the provinces or cities of China [1,2,[5][6][7][8][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. However, this analysis is totally absent for a panel of East Asia, and there is a need to incorporate this idea into research.…”

Estimating the Effects of Economic Agglomeration on Haze Pollution in Yangtze River Delta China Using an Econometric Analysis

“…To prevent haze pollution, we should examine its main impact factors to define the relevant core control elements and on this basis propose the policy management program [14]. Many researchers have explored the factors contributing to pollutions, including both natural and socio-economic factors.…”

Regional Cooperation for the Sustainable Development and Management in Northeast Asia

“…Using the average concentration of PM 2.5 in China's major cities from 2000 to 2012, as measured by aerosol optical depth, Zhengning Pu tested the time spatial convergence of fine particulate matter pollution in China [15]. He showed that the growth rate of PM 2.5 in the middle and western zones is significantly higher than that of the eastern zone and the correlation test between regional economic growth and PM 2.5 emissions suggests a significant positive N-type Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) [15]. It implies a kind of balloon effect that the strong regulation on the eastern zone caused an exodus of the energy-intensive or heavy GHG-emitting industries into the western and central zones.…”