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The basin economy is essential in China's high-quality development, which brings prodigious economic and social benefits. However, high industrialization and urbanization led to a significant escalation in water pollution within basins. The achievement of synergistic control of water environment pollution at the basin scale has emerged as a primary goal for governmental departments in developing environmental policies. This study constructs a "four-in-one" basin's water environment regulation system comprising four categories: total, quality, project, and governance. Further, the spatial spillover effects of water environment pollution control in 27 Chinese provincial-level administrative regions spanning key river basins were analyzed. This study aims to provide evidence from China on the transfer of water pollution in basins worldwide. The results indicate the following conclusions: (1) A consistent upward trend in the environmental regulations and water environment pollution indexes across all provinces in the basin. Compared to 2006, in 2018, the mean value of the basin environmental regulation index was 0.21, which is an increase of 23.5%, and the mean value of the water environmental pollution index was 0.83, which is an increase of 29.7%. (2) Whether in the basin's upper, middle, or lower reaches, the relationship between environmental regulations and water pollution follows a "U"-shaped pattern, with thresholds of 0.318, 0.331, and 0.390, respectively. (3) Under the neighbor weight matrix and water flow distance weight matrix, the impact coefficient of the water environment pollution index on the surrounding areas is significantly positive, implying that the implementation of local environmental policies will radiate to the neighboring areas in the short term and bring positive governance effects. (4) Regarding the time-lag effect, it is observed that the lag term associated with the water environment pollution index exhibits a statistically significant positive relationship. This finding suggests that the pollution of the water environment within the basin follows a cumulative and continuous pattern. (5) It is noted that long-term environmental regulation measures do not contribute favorably to the amelioration of water pollution in the neighboring regions. This implies the presence of a characteristic neighboring avoidance effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the reform and opening up, China has achieved rapid economic development at the cost of environmental pollution, but this extensive development mode is increasingly difficult to sustain. Fortunately, China has begun to attach importance to environmental pollution and green output, and the central and local governments have successively issued many environmental regulation policies. Taking 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2017 as samples, this paper uses slacks-based measure (SBM) model based on unexpected output to measure the green output efficiency. Taking green output efficiency as the explanatory variable and environmental regulation as the explanatory variable, this paper analyzes its local effect and neighboring effect. The regression results of the whole sample show that environmental regulation in China will have a positive impact on green output efficiency, but it will have a negative impact on neighboring cities. Furthermore, considering the differences of economic development levels among the eastern, central and western regions of China, the samples of the three regions were regressed, and it was found that the higher the economic development level, the greater the impact of environmental regulation on the regions. Therefore, cities should not only ensure their own characteristics, but also pay attention to policy coordination among cities when formulating relevant environmental regulation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental decentralization is an institutional factor that influences the effect of ecological environment governance. Based on panel data of provinces in China from 2008 to 2015, this paper evaluates the indicators of environmental decentralization, and uses a fixed-effect model and a threshold model to test the influence of environmental decentralization and environmental regulation on environmental pollution. The results indicate that China's environmental decentralization can significantly curb environmental pollution in general. There is a U-shaped relationship between environmental decentralization and environmental pollution. Reasonable environmental decentralization can restrain environmental pollution, while excessive environmental decentralization aggravates environmental pollution. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and environmental pollution. If the intensity of environmental regulation is too low, it cannot inhibit environmental pollution, while if the intensity of environmental regulation is increased to a certain level, it can help to inhibit environmental pollution. The joint impact of environmental decentralization and environmental regulation cannot reduce environmental pollution. That is, with the enlargement of environmental decentralization, environmental regulation fails to reduce environmental pollution. The effect of environmental decentralization has significant regional heterogeneity in economic development level and emission intensity. The above conclusions have important reference value for optimizing the environmental decentralization system and formulating scientific environmental decentralization policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper re-examines the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) by taking environmental regulation in ambient regions as a critical determinant concurrent with own regulation. Exploiting the Two Control Zones policy in China as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that both the curbing effect of the local environmental regulation and the spillover effect of ambient regions affect high-polluting foreign direct investment (FDI) location. Moreover, reallocated FDI results in redistributing instead of reducing pollutant emissions. Our evidence enriched by spatial spillover primarily supports the PHH in the context of China. It suggests a national-wide coordinated environmental policy with a unified goal performs better than separately implementing stringent regulations in highly polluted areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental stringency policy shocks and environmental tax have become fundamental policy tools for mitigating the degradation of the environment. The study explores the effects of environmental tax and environmental stringency policy shocks in the reduction of pollution emissions in China for the time 1993 to 2019. This study is a pioneer in assessing the simultaneous impact of these two policy instruments on pollution emissions in China. For empirical investigation, the study employed NARDL estimation techniques. The NARDL results show that positive shocks in environmental tax reduce N2O emissions by 0.03%, PM2.5 emissions by 0.13%, CO2 emissions by 0.18%, and GHGs emissions by 0.01%, however, negative shocks in environmental tax increase N2O emissions by 0.01%, PM2.5 emissions by 0.07%, CO2 emissions by 0.28%, GHGs emissions by 0.17% in the long run. The long-run results also show that positive shocks in environmental policy stringency reduced CO2 emissions by 0.94%, GHGs emissions by 0.77%, while negative shocks in environmental policy stringency increased N2O emissions by 0.17%, PM2.5 emissions by 0.50%, CO2 emissions by 0.63%. The findings suggest vigorous policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulations are considered a prerequisite for environmental performance. However, very limited studies have explored the asymmetric relationship between clean energy consumption, environmental regulation, and CO2 emissions. This study scrutinizes the asymmetry phenomenon in environmental regulation-clean energy consumption and environmental quality nexus in China by using the time series nonlinear ARDL approach by covering the period 1993–2019. The result reveals that the impact of environmental regulation on clean energy consumption and CO2 emissions is asymmetric. A positive change in environmental regulation has a positive effect on clean energy consumption but a negative impact on CO2 emissions in the long run. While a negative change in environmental regulation has insignificant effects on clean energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the long run. The study suggests that China should need to revisit environmental regulation policies that could help in improving environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trading of carbon emissions is a crucial regulatory method to address environmental pollution issues. This study takes China's carbon emission trading pilot policy established in 2013 as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the DID model to empirically test the urban panel data from 2006 to 2019. The results show that the carbon emission trading pilot policy can effectively reduce urban environmental pollution, and this effect is more noticeable in mid-western cities, northern cities, cities with fewer resources, and large-scale cities. In addition, to address the urban environmental pollution problem through this policy, the government is encouraged to raise its environmental protection awareness and put more effort into the innovation of technology. In general, this study uses carbon emission trading policies from China to confirm that market-based incentive environmental regulation tools can effectively reduce environmental pollution in urban areas. These findings can provide more theoretical support and empirical evidence for the government to use mechanisms of the market to effectively solve pollution problems, improve ecological environment quality, and accelerate the realization of green economy. • The DID model is used to track pilot policy impact on urban environmental pollution. • Carbon emission trading pilot policy can reduce urban environmental pollution. • The government's environmental awareness is the channel of action. • The government's technological innovation efforts are the channel of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's economy continues to grow, more and more attention is being paid to environmental pollution issues, including haze pollution, which is the most prominent of the air problems. In order to alleviate the haze pollution problem while ensuring the normal operation of the economy, the government has adopted an environmental regulation policy along with the introduction of foreign direct investment. This study uses a fixed effects model and two-stage least squares to examine the correlation of foreign direct investment and environmental regulation to the haze pollution level by using the Chinese provincial panel data from 2008 to 2019. We found a positive interaction between the foreign direct investment and environmental regulation, where a high-quality investment promotes the haze reduction, and the environmental regulation can enhance this effect. The results approve the possibilities that China can bring the merit investment and reduce its air pollution simultaneously, but how to balance the interaction between environmental regulation and the investment needs to draw attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As urban agglomerations have become the main spatial organization form in China, it is of great significance to carry out environmental cooperative governance based on urban agglomerations. Research on the interaction of environmental regulation enforcement among cities can provide a new explanation for the competition and cooperation in terms of pollution control in urban agglomerations. This article selected three types of environmental regulation policy tools: market-incentive, command-and-control, and their combinations, and analyzed the interaction pattern of environmental regulations based on the theoretical mechanism derivation and the two zone spatial Durbin model by using the panel data of 103 cities in China. Then, the SLX model was used to explore the impact of the interaction of environmental regulations on the cooperative governance of pollution in five urban agglomerations. The results showed that the market-incentive environmental regulation was not fully implemented, which meant that some cities adopted a 'race to the bottom' strategy in response of the competition with their neighbors. After combining market-incentive environmental regulation with command and-control environmental regulation, the pattern of environmental regulation interaction between cities changed from ' race to the bottom' to 'race to the top'. This interactive characteristic was particularly significant in the Yangtze River Delta and the Chengdu Chongqing urban agglomerations. However, the 'racing to the top' characteristic of these two urban agglomerations had different effects on the intercity environmental cooperation: there was a synergy effect caused by strong spillover effect of environmental regulation implementation in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration rather than in the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the efficiency of a set of environmental measures introduced by China's 11th Five-Year Plan in 2006, using a rich and unique data set assembled from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the State Environmental Protection Agency. By exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in regulatory stringency generated by the regulatory system across China's provinces, we find evidence that pollution-intensive cities reduced their SO2 emissions substantially, whereas cities with a strong state-owned enterprise (SOE) presence did not. We interpret the results as pointing to evidence of Chinese SOEs' ongoing soft budget constraints. The findings are robust to the inclusion of different fixed effects and other key determinants of pollution. Moreover, we investigate the main factors underlying regulatory non-compliance: the overlapping (or not) of "Two Control Zone" (Special Policy Zone, Coastal) cities wherein environmental (growth) policies are prioritized; the existence of turning points below (above) which growth and reductions in pollution substitute for (complement) each other; the size and extent of industrial concentration, which determines the possibilities of firms negotiating with the local authorities; and finally, the regulation-induced adoption of cleaner technologies by polluting firms, which enhance productivity and lower SO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation policy is the main means of pollution control and emission reduction and plays an irreplaceable role in environmental governance. However, due to the competitive behavior of economic development, the local government cannot effectively use the efficiency of environmental regulation to reduce the emission of environmental pollution. Taking 284 prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2016 as samples, this paper studies the strategic interaction of environmental regulation enforcement by local governments under different circumstances and its impact on environmental pollution, so as to provide reference for national overall environmental governance planning. Through the research, it is found that the strategic interaction of environmental regulation enforcement among Chinese cities is characterized by the race-to-the-top. And the strategic interaction of environmental regulation enforcement among cities of the same economic level has the strongest impact. Besides, the impact of environmental regulation on environmental pollution has different intensity in different scenarios, showing a non-positive correlation. Most importantly, the Pollution Paradise exists in some cities under special circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation may lead to undesired economic consequences. China has tightened its environmental policies to deal with severe environmental pollution in recent years, but existing studies pay little attention to the economic consequences of China's environmental policies. Using the panel data of 211 prefecture‐level and above cities in China from 2003 to 2016, we for the first time estimate the economic impact of the environmental protection admonishing talk (EPAT) policy, a newly implemented environmental regulation policy in China. We use the difference‐in‐differences strategy to identify the economic effects of the EPAT policy combined with the propensity score matching method to control a potential selection problem. The results show that a relative decline occurs in gross domestic product per capita in target cities after the implementation of the EPAT, and the negative impact is exerted on the secondary industry rather than the tertiary industry. Furthermore, we find that target cities respond to the environmental protection requirements of higher authorities through a one‐size‐fits‐all approach of limiting the production activities of industrial enterprises. Meanwhile, the EPAT policy does not improve environmental efficiency. Such findings are instructive for policymakers who need to trade off economic welfare and environmental quality when formulating and implementing new environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines the how new manufacturing firms choose locations in response to the environmental regulations in Jiangsu, China. In particular, we utilize three representative measures of the environmental regulations to test the consistence of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH). The dramatic results indicate that different measures of environmental regulation lead to different conclusions of the PHH. However, firms' relocation patterns are common and consistent, i.e., new polluting firms are more likely to be driven by the government environmental mandates to northern Jiangsu, where the pollution abatement cost is high. This pattern is consistent with the industrial planning of the province, suggesting that local government may use environmental regulations to achieve economic objectives. More comprehensive and equitable policy design is thus recommended to address the problems of environmental equity in China. Highlights • We examined firms' location choice in response to the environmental regulations. • We utilized three representative measures of the environmental regulations. • We find different measures of environmental regulation lead to different conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the pressure of environmental deterioration mounted in recent years, Chinese government has formulated a series of environmental policies and regulations with the intention of improving environmental quality. However, the effectiveness of these environmental regulations have not been carefully examined yet. This study for the first time investigates the effects of environmental regulations on the environmental performance. Using the city-level panel data of 283 Chinese cities for the period 2003–2010 and four indicators for environmental quality (the industrial waste water discharged, industrial SO2 emissions and industrial Soot emissions), this study employs the first-difference GMM method that could deal with potential endogeneity and allow dynamics to conduct the empirical estimations. Overall, the estimation results indicate that current environmental control measures and regulations have not achieved the desired goal of controlling and reducing pollution. Moreover, the direct impact of FDI on China's environment is negative, suggesting that there is evidence for the “Pollution Heaven” hypothesis. The coefficients of the interactive term of environmental regulation and foreign direct investment are estimated to be negative, which indicates that the environmental regulation is effective only when FDI is controlled for. The estimation results are basically consistent for different Chinese regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese government adopted a new environmental program during "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period. Whether this program can achieve its goal of pollution reduction and quality improvement for exports is of vital importance for China's sustainable development. This paper constructs a quasi-difference-in-difference (DID) framework to identify the effects of the new environmental policy on export product quality by using highly disaggregated trade transaction data at the product level. Empirical results show that the implementation of pollution reduction targets is negatively correlated with export product quality. This negative impact is more profound in western regions, capital-intensive industries, privately owned firms and firms exporting to countries which are not members of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development group. In addition, our extended analysis shows that the negative effects can be mitigated through product switching within the firms. The major policy implication is that local governments should take proper measures to strengthen the effects of innovation offsets caused by environmental regulation and effectively utilize the induced effects of environmental regulation on product switching. The goal is to achieve a win-win outcome for environmental protection and improvement in export product quality. • Pollution reduction enforcement significantly reduces export product quality. • Innovation can be an offsetting force for this negative impact. • The negative effects can be mitigated through product switching within the firms. • There are variations across regions, sectors and ownership. • Environmental regulation should accommodate these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of foreign investment is a double-edged sword, which not only drives China's rapid economic development, but also aggravates China's energy shortage and environmental pollution. Chinese government has strengthened environmental regulations with the intention of restricting the entry of foreign investment, improving the quality of foreign direct investment (FDI). However, the effect of environmental regulation on the quality of FDI has not been carefully examined yet. This study constructs a panel model and uses the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2018 to scrutinize the effect of different types of environmental regulation policies on the quality of FDI. The results show that the strengthening of environmental regulation policies can improve the quality of FDI and avoid making China a "pollution paradise" for FDI. There are significant differences in the effects of different types of such policies on the quality of FDI; the type of administrative supervision and social participation policies play positive roles in improving the quality of FDI. There are also significant differences in the strategies for attracting foreign investment among different regions, as well as in the focuses of their environmental regulation objectives. Therefore, for environmental regulation policies to play a more positive role in promoting the quality of FDI and the high-quality development of the national economy, this study suggests that it is necessary to further implement the policy of opening up to the outside world, optimise foreign investment structures, deepen opening up to the outside world, optimise the structure of foreign investment, deepen the reform of the environmental supervision structure, tighten the law enforcement of environmental protection, seek accurate environmental regulation based on the realities of regional foreign investment development, take multiple measures to improve the business environment to promote the quality and efficiency of foreign investment, and so on. Image 1 • Strict environmental regulation policy can improve the unit scale and unit benefit of FDI. • Distinguish and test the potential effects of different types of environmental policy tools on the quality of FDI. • Administrative supervision policy and social participation policy can improve the quality of FDI more effectively. • Sustained improvement of FDI quality depends on coordinated advances in economic, political, and environmental reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using firm establishment-level data combined with provincial socio-economic characteristic panel data in China for the period of 2011–2015, this study seeks to empirically examine the impact of environmental regulation on location choices of polluting firms. The results of the conditional logit model provide compelling evidence that environmental regulations do affect the location choice of firms in polluting industries. Instead of supporting the pollution haven effect, our results consistently confirm the Porter effect at the country level. This result is robust when taking endogeneity problem into account, adopting various model specifications and estimation strategies, using alternative measurements of environmental regulation and location choices, and subsampling excluding international political events. However, the results also show divergent effect of environmental regulation on location choices for heterogeneous firms. Specifically, polluting firms in eastern region prefer to invest in provinces with stringent environmental policies but those in other regions, especially in northeastern region, choose to locate in provinces with lax environmental regulation. While water-dependent polluting firms with a low level of footlooseness are more likely to enter locations with loose environmental regulation, air pollution-intensive firms tend to locate in provinces with tight environmental legislation. These results have policy implications for transitional China as well as other developing countries with similar experience. Image 1 • We study the impact of environmental regulation on polluting firms' location choices. • We employ conditional logit model to analyze the firm establishment-level data. • Our results consistently confirm Porter effect rather than pollution haven effect. • The result is robust to consider endogeneity problem and to various robustness tests. • Divergence effect of environmental regulation for heterogeneous firms is also discovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]