China

Vision

To improve the well-being of disadvantaged groups in developing countries by mitigating excessive pollution and natural resource depletion, and to promote sustainable use of natural resources and ecosystem services by means of environmental policy instruments. This objective will be actively pursued with vibrant research, policy informing, and capacity-building activities.

Resource Scarcity Can Help Improve Local Cooperation

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
EfD Authors:

This study examines the effect of long-term resource scarcity on cooperation, measured by both the irrigation management practices and a lab-in-the-field experiment. We find that greater water scarcity not only leads to better irrigation management practices and outcomes, but also fosters a stronger norm of cooperation among villagers. Our findings imply that, when facing the pressure of increasing scarcity, it is possible for local people to cooperate and provide effective collective action in resource management.

Water

An Econometric Approach toward Identifying the Relationship between Vehicular Traffic and Air Quality in Beijing

Submitted by Hang Yin on

Earlier studies that evaluated the impact of vehicular emissions on urban air quality often reached mixed conclusions, providing little guidance to city planners seeking solutions to the ever-growing problem of air pollution. In this paper, we combine the strengths of earlier studies with hourly-level data to reexamine the causal relationship between traffic congestion and ambient air quality in Beijing. We find that around 33% to 57% of ambient air pollution in Beijing can be attributed to vehicular emissions.

Health, Policy Design

Urban Rail Transit Can Improve Air Quality: New Evidence from Chinese Cities

Submitted by Eugenia Leon on
EfD Authors:

In this research, we investigate whether urban rail transit expansion improves air quality. We also compare the magnitudes of the effects across cities and explain the variation. The results suggest that opening subways alleviated air pollution, especially during non-rush hours in the daytime. We find that the effects are smaller in the cities with higher income and more subway lines, while the effects are larger in the cities with higher population density. Furthermore, the effect of the first subway line opening is stronger, compared to expansion of an existing subway system.

Health, Air Quality

On the Use of Market-Based Instruments to Reduce Air Pollution in Asia

Submitted by Hang Yin on

The high rates of economic activity and environmental degradation in Asia demand the implementation of creative and cost-effective environmental policy instruments that provide polluters with more flexibility to find least-cost solutions to pollution reduction. Despite their many theoretical advantages, the use of market-based instruments (MBIs) is a relatively recent phenomenon in Asia, partly due to policymakers being unfamiliar with MBIs and countries lacking the institutional capacity to implement and enforce them.

Air Quality, Policy Design

Using electricity prices to curb industrial pollution

Submitted by Hang Yin on

In this study, we show that changes in electricity prices in China have significant environmental consequences through its effect on industrial pollution emissions concentrations. To investigate this relationship, we pair a novel dataset of hourly smokestack-level pollutant emissions of industrial plants in Anhui, China with changes in hourly electricity prices. Using a difference-in-differences (DID) regression model, we find that pollution emissions from these plants have an inverse relationship with electricity prices.

Energy, Policy Design

Household appliance ownership and income inequality: Evidence from micro data in China

Submitted by Hang Yin on

As the residential sector is becoming increasingly important in the total energy consumption and appliance ownership is a significant but under-examined driver, this study investigates the relationship between income inequality and appliance ownership using panel data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). We find that income inequality has negative impacts on appliance penetration rate across specifications, except for the initial development stage.

Experiments