Campaign-style governance of air pollution in China? A comprehensive analysis of the central environmental protection inspection

Frontiers in Public Health

Public Health

Yanchao Feng¹  Chuang Cheng¹  Anqi Cao¹  Shilei Hu² 

[1] Business School, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China;School of Economics and Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai, China;

关键词: central environmental protection inspection;    air pollution;    campaign-style governance;    regression discontinuity design;    government-business relations;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2023.1081573

 received in 2022-10-27, accepted in 2023-03-06,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Central environmental protection inspection (CEPI) is a major institutional innovation in China's environmental governance, but its effectiveness in improving air quality is still unclear. However, the effectiveness of CEPI is of great significance and can be regarded as an important reference for deepening the reform of environmental governance system in China. This article takes the CEPI as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the regression discontinuity design (RDD) and the difference-in-differences (DID) methods to examine the effectiveness of this policy. The study found that the first round of CEPI reduced the air pollution of cities in the inspected provinces in a short time. Moreover, this positive policy effect persisted in the aftermath of the inspection, but this long-term effect is mainly reflected in PM10 and SO2. Heterogeneity analysis showed that CEPI was only effective in reducing air pollutants of industry-oriented cities, cities in Central and Eastern China, and cities with large or small population size. The moderating effect analysis indicated that a healthy relationship (close and clean) between the local governments and businesses was conducive to reducing air pollution. The research confirmed the presence of “selective” reduction of air pollutants in the long run caused by CEPI, thereby providing new inspiration for the improvement of campaign-style environmental governance and the follow-up CEPI work.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Feng, Cheng, Hu and Cao.