区域一体化的减霾效应—基于断点回归的经验证据.

The mobility of air pollution and the free-riding phenomenon in the process of pollution control determine that joint prevention and control policies should be implemented in a larger area. As China’ s economic development shifts from high-speed growth to high-quality development, the spatial structure of economic development is undergoing profound changes. Regional integration with urban agglomerations and megalopolis as units plays an increasingly important role in promoting economic development and environmental governance. Based on the regression method of geographical regression discontinuity, this study used the panel data of prefectures and counties in China from 2005 to 2019 to study whether the regional integration of urban agglomeration was conducive to better haze reduction. The empirical results showed that: ① On the whole, the regional integration of urban agglomeration played a role in haze reduction, and the annual average PM2.5 concentration of prefectures and counties within the urban agglomeration was 11.204 μg/m³ lower than that of those outside the urban agglomeration. ② Mechanism analysis showed that structural haze reduction and technical haze reduction were important ways for regional integration to exert haze reduction effects. The former was mainly realized through industrial division and transfer between the central area and the peripheral area, and the latter was mainly realized through technology transfer and knowledge spillover under the center-periphery structure. ③ The haze reduction effects produced by regional integration had large regional differences, and the three major urban agglomerations with relatively mature development had the most significant haze reduction effects. Furthermore, the joint prevention and control policy of air pollution with urban agglomeration as the unit exerted a better effect on haze reduction. ④ The implication of this paper showed that: regional integration has produced a significant positive environmental impact and it is of great practical significance to continuously build an inter-regional environmental collaborative governance mechanism within the scope of urban agglomeration. It is necessary to actively promote the overall control of air pollution on a larger geographical scale and pay attention to the division of labor and cooperation between industries in different regions in the process of regional integration, and at the same time, increase investment in technological innovation within the region and encourage local government and enterprises to carry out research and development of pollution control and emission reduction technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]