Wang Qinzhang, Xia Fan, Liu Mengdi
School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, No.10, Huixin Dongjie, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029, China.
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Reuse, School of Environment, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing, 210023, China; Institute for the Environment and Health, Nanjing University Suzhou Campus, Suzhou, 215163, China.
J Environ Manage. 2025 Mar;377:124538. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124538. Epub 2025 Feb 21.
Governments often provide subsidies for new energy vehicles (NEVs) to enhance environmental quality and energy efficiency. However, the success of these subsidies in improving air quality in the short term depends largely on their ability to replace conventional vehicles. This paper examines the impact of local NEV subsidies in China on vehicle consumption and air quality. By analyzing monthly panel data from 54 cities between 2020 and 2021 using a staggered difference-in-differences (DiD) approach, we find that NEV subsidies boost NEV sales by 62%. The effects are more pronounced among institutional buyers and for high-priced vehicles than among private buyers and low-priced vehicles. However, our results suggest that air quality has not improved as a result of these subsidies, primarily because Chinese consumers have not significantly reduced their purchases of conventional vehicles in the short term.
政府经常为新能源汽车（NEV）提供补贴，以提高环境质量和能源效率。然而，这些补贴在短期内改善空气质量方面的成功在很大程度上取决于它们取代传统车辆的能力。本文研究了中国地方新能源汽车补贴对车辆消费和空气质量的影响。通过使用交错双重差分（DiD）方法分析2020年至2021年期间54个城市的月度面板数据，我们发现新能源汽车补贴使新能源汽车销量增长了62%。与私人买家和低价车辆相比，机构买家和高价车辆受到的影响更为明显。然而，我们的结果表明，这些补贴并没有改善空气质量，主要是因为中国消费者在短期内没有显著减少对传统车辆的购买。
