School of Economics and Business Administration, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, PR China.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 Nov 25;745:140843. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140843. Epub 2020 Jul 18.
This study aims to analyze the impact of air pollution on Chinese labor wage distortions, especially the impact caused by neighboring air pollution, which is the spatial spillover effects of pollution.
It first constructs a theoretical model to explain the effect of air pollution on wage distortions theoretically. Then, based on the measurement of wage distortions of 289 cities from 1998 to 2016, it further uses the Spatial Durbin Model to examine the influences and influencing mechanisms empirically.
The results show that labor wages are negatively distorted during the sample period, with the real wages being lower than the marginal product labor (MPL). Besides, local air pollution significantly exacerbates wage distortions through the production input effect that increases MPL, with a 1% increase in air pollution leading to a 0.0842% and 0.1038% increase in wage distortions and MPL, respectively. The spatial spillover effects suggest that air pollution from neighborhoods significantly reduces local wage distortions through the human capital effect that decreases MPL, and the elastic coefficients of neighboring air pollution on wage distortions and MPL are -0.6078 and - 0.8870, respectively. Besides, the heterogeneity test indicates the magnitude and the significance of the impacts vary in the eastern, central, and western regions.
Our analysis calls for collaborative governance in both air pollution and labor market liberalization and the simultaneous growth of real wages and labor productivity.
本研究旨在分析空气污染对中国劳动力工资扭曲的影响，特别是由邻近空气污染造成的影响，即污染的空间溢出效应。
首先构建了一个理论模型，从理论上解释空气污染对工资扭曲的影响。然后，基于 1998 年至 2016 年 289 个城市的工资扭曲测量，进一步使用空间杜宾模型进行实证检验。
结果表明，在样本期内，劳动力工资呈负向扭曲，实际工资低于边际产品劳动（MPL）。此外，本地空气污染通过增加 MPL 的生产投入效应显著加剧了工资扭曲，空气污染增加 1%，工资扭曲和 MPL 分别增加 0.0842%和 0.1038%。空间溢出效应表明，来自邻近地区的空气污染通过降低 MPL 的人力资本效应显著降低了本地工资扭曲，邻近空气污染对工资扭曲和 MPL 的弹性系数分别为-0.6078 和-0.8870。此外，异质性检验表明，在东部、中部和西部地区，影响的大小和显著性存在差异。
我们的分析呼吁在空气污染和劳动力市场自由化方面进行协同治理，并同时实现实际工资和劳动生产率的增长。
