Search

As environmental pollution brings a series of problems to society and residential lives, how to effectively reduce air pollution and control climate change have become urgent problems. Since institutional quality is an important factor affecting air quality, we evaluated the causal relationship between them based on cross-country panel data from 2000 to 2016. We find that the improvement of institutional quality significantly reduces PM 2.5 , and this pollution reduction effect is obvious in high-income countries and in countries with common laws. Furthermore, under the components of institutional quality, the quality of government regulation, the degree of rule of law, corruption control, and government effectiveness have significant emission reduction effects. To explore how institutional quality affects air pollution, we perform mechanism analysis from the perspective of economic development, foreign trade, and technology progress. We further verify three environmental propositions including the Environmental Kuznets Curve, the Pollution Paradise Hypothesis, and Porter Hypothesis. Results show that the pollution reduction effect of institutional quality can be mediated by economic development rate, foreign direct investment, and technological progress. The Environmental Kuznets Curve exists, the Pollution Paradise Hypothesis is validated in countries with lower institutional quality level, and the improvement of the institutional quality can achieve the Porter Effect through technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With rapid economic development, air pollution became a serious problem in China. Vehicle's exhaust emissions are among the main sources of air pollution. With samples of 173 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2016, this paper takes the implementation of driving restrictions as a quasi-natural experiment to examine the relationship between driving restrictions and air quality through the difference-in-differences method based on the propensity score matching. Results indicate that driving restrictions have not improved the air quality in terms of average treatment effect as there is no clear evidence that people turn from private cars to busses or subways. Furthermore, heterogeneous effects of driving restrictions exist across different regions and cities of China. The implementation of driving restrictions has significantly positive impacts on air pollution in the Eastern and Central cities of China, while it has significantly negative effects in non-capital cities. This study implies that the development of local public transportation needs to be taken into account when formulating the policy of driving restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the outbreak of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease, 2019), China adopted traffic restrictions to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Using daily data before and after the outbreak of COVID-19, an exogenous shock, this paper analyzes the effects of private vehicle restriction policies on air pollution. We find that the private vehicle restriction policies reduce the degree of air pollution to a certain extent. However, their effect varies with other policies implemented in the same period and the economic development of the city itself. Through the analysis of different categories of restrictions, we find that restriction policy for local fuel vehicles and the restriction policy based on the last digit of license plate numbers have the best effect in reducing air pollution. Under the background of COVID-19 epidemic and the implementation of private vehicle restriction policies and other traffic control policies during this period, we have also obtained other enlightenment on air pollution control. • The causal relationship between air pollution and restriction is analyzed. • An exogenous shock from COVID-19 is used to identify this relationship. • The private vehicle restriction reduces the degree of air pollution. • The restriction policies have heterogeneous effects. • The effects of restriction are affected by other policies against COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the China Health and Nutrition Survey, this study quantifies the causal effects of air pollution on the demand for medical insurance from the perspective of avoidance behavior; an instrumental variable approach was used. The rise in air pollution is associated with an increased probability of purchasing medical insurance. Results suggest that the effect of air pollution on the demand for medical insurance may be overestimated without considering the migration of people. Furthermore, the substitution between basic medical and commercial insurance is becoming increasingly evident with the reform of the medical system. The effect of air pollution on the demand for medical insurance is mainly observed on women, children, the elderly, and people with high income and educational levels, all of whom are more likely to take an avoidance behavior. This study suggests that environmental issues must be considered in future medical insurance designs due to avoidance behavior to mitigate the negative effects of poor air quality. Avoidance costs must also be considered when governments formulate environmental policies. • The causal relationship between air pollution and insurance demand is analyzed. • Instrumental variable approach deals with endogenous problems of air pollution. • China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data in 2004–2015 are used. • Air pollution rises the demand for medical insurance and has heterogeneous effects. • The medical reform is effective in mitigating negative effects of air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]