School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, China.
School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, China.
J Environ Manage. 2022 May 15;310:114721. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114721. Epub 2022 Feb 23.
As clean air is a public good, local governments play an irreplaceable role in environmental protection. This study examines how intergovernmental competition affects air quality in China. The results reveal that intergovernmental tax competition increases regional sulfur dioxide and haze emissions and worsens regional air quality, while competition in infrastructure investment does not have such effects. Furthermore, tax competition will affect air quality through industrial spatial distribution. Intergovernmental competition attracts low-technical content capital flowing into where it is more aggressive, triggering a "race to the bottom" effect on industrial structure and attracting similar industries through an agglomeration economy. On this basis, this study uses the Spatial Durbin model to test the spatial impact of intergovernmental competition on air quality. The effects are manifested in two forms: pollution spillover and pollution transfer. Pollution spillover has a major effect on the air quality of neighboring regions at close geographical distances, while pollution transfer is mainly responsible for the air quality of regions with similar levels of economic development. The relocation of capital and industries between regions due to intergovernmental competition causes the spillover and transfer effects on air quality. In addition, this study analyzes the regulatory effect of fiscal decentralization and environmental regulation on the impact of intergovernmental competition on air quality.
由于清洁空气是一种公共物品，地方政府在环境保护方面发挥着不可替代的作用。本研究考察了政府间竞争如何影响中国的空气质量。研究结果表明，政府间税收竞争加剧了地区二氧化硫和雾霾排放，恶化了地区空气质量，而基础设施投资竞争则没有这种影响。此外，税收竞争将通过产业空间分布影响空气质量。政府间竞争吸引低技术含量的资本流入更具竞争力的地区，从而对产业结构产生“逐底竞争”效应，并通过集聚经济吸引类似产业。在此基础上，本研究利用空间杜宾模型检验了政府间竞争对空气质量的空间影响。这种影响表现为两种形式：污染溢出和污染转移。污染溢出对近距离地理距离的邻近地区的空气质量有重大影响，而污染转移主要是由经济发展水平相似的地区的空气质量造成的。由于政府间竞争，资本和产业在地区间的重新配置导致了对空气质量的溢出和转移效应。此外，本研究还分析了财政分权和环境规制对政府间竞争对空气质量影响的调节作用。
