Li Li, Sun Junwei, Jiang Jingjing, Wang Jun
School of Economics and Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China.
School of Business, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China.
Environ Geochem Health. 2022 Sep;44(9):3057-3080. doi: 10.1007/s10653-021-00854-w. Epub 2021 Mar 26.
Haze pollution has drawn lots of public concern due to its potential damages to human health. Strategic interaction of environmental regulation among local governments may lead to a race to the bottom and hinder air quality improvement. Still, current empirical evidence is scarce, especially from developing countries. Based on province-level panel data from 2004 to 2015, the paper employs a dynamic fixed effect spatial Durbin model to identify interactive patterns of environmental regulation and then investigate its environmental impact. Empirical results indicate that regional differences are observed in environmental regulation and haze pollution, and high-high and low-low clusters dominate the spatial pattern. Interactive patterns of economically similar provinces are dominated by strategic substitution, whereas provinces sharing common borders or belonging to the same region are dominated by strategic complementation. Further, both race to the bottom and race to the top effect are discovered in the asymmetric test. The reaction coefficient values are much more extensive when competitors implement laxer policies, indicating a more significant racing trend to the bottom. Overall, after controlling for the spillover effect and hysteresis effect of haze pollution, the strategic interaction of environmental regulation among provinces is not conducive to improve air quality. The consequence might be correlated with low environmental standards, weak regulation enforcement, and the "free-ride" motive in China. These findings will be of great significance for optimizing local government behavior and improving air quality.
雾霾污染因其对人类健康的潜在危害而备受公众关注。地方政府之间环境规制的策略性互动可能导致逐底竞争，阻碍空气质量改善。然而，目前的实证证据匮乏，尤其是来自发展中国家的证据。基于2004年至2015年的省级面板数据，本文采用动态固定效应空间杜宾模型来识别环境规制的互动模式，进而考察其环境影响。实证结果表明，环境规制和雾霾污染存在区域差异，高高和低低集聚主导空间格局。经济相似省份的互动模式以策略性替代为主，而接壤省份或同属一个区域的省份则以策略性互补为主。此外，在非对称检验中发现了逐底竞争和逐顶竞争效应。当竞争对手实施较宽松政策时，反应系数值范围更广，表明存在更显著的逐底竞争趋势。总体而言，在控制了雾霾污染的溢出效应和滞后效应后，省份间环境规制的策略性互动不利于空气质量改善。这一结果可能与中国环境标准较低、监管执法不力以及“搭便车”动机有关。这些发现对于优化地方政府行为和改善空气质量具有重要意义。
