School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, PR China; Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, PR China; Office of High-Talent, Department of Human Resource, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, PR China.
School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, PR China; Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Economics and Environmental Management, Beijing, China; Sustainable Development Research Institute for Economy and Society of Beijing, Beijing, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Feb 10;755(Pt 1):142397. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142397. Epub 2020 Sep 25.
Chinese residents are becoming more and more concerned about the living environment especially under the situation of environmental degradation caused by the unbalanced and inadequate economic development. The widespread of internet use provide a new way for public to express the dissatisfaction on environmental pollution. Although the public is the main body of society, the public concern over environmental issues are rarely studied. In this paper, the impact of public concern over haze on haze pollution is quantitatively examined by the utilization of econometric model. Specifically, the Baidu search index (BSI) is utilized as indicators for public concern. Using the panel data consisting of 13 cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from the period from January 2014 to December 2019, estimation results showed a significant improvement effect of public concern on haze pollution. In general, the public concern can improve the air quality in a short turn. However, this improvement effect varies with different economic development levels. These findings can help policy makers to better understand the role of public in social governance and improve the air quality in China with the inclusion of public participation.
中国居民越来越关注生活环境，特别是在经济发展不平衡和不足导致环境恶化的情况下。互联网的广泛使用为公众提供了一种新的途径来表达对环境污染的不满。尽管公众是社会的主体，但对公众关注环境问题的研究却很少。本文利用计量经济学模型，定量考察了公众对雾霾的关注对雾霾污染的影响。具体来说，利用百度搜索指数（BSI）作为公众关注的指标。利用 2014 年 1 月至 2019 年 12 月京津冀地区 13 个城市的面板数据进行估计，结果表明公众对雾霾的关注对雾霾污染有显著的改善效应。总的来说，公众的关注可以在短期内改善空气质量。然而，这种改善效果因经济发展水平的不同而有所不同。这些发现可以帮助政策制定者更好地理解公众在社会治理中的作用，并通过公众参与来提高中国的空气质量。
