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Heterogeneity environmental regulation and provincial haze pollution in China: an empirical study based on threshold model

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Abstract

The influence of environmental regulation on haze pollution is a hot issue of scholar’s attention. However, different types of environmental regulations have different effects on haze pollution. Based on PM2.5 annual mean data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2005 to 2016, combined with the threshold effect model to test the nonlinear impact of different types of environmental regulations on haze pollution. The results show the haze pollution in China is still serious, and there are significant regional differences in the distribution of haze pollution. The heavily polluted areas are mainly concentrated in economically developed eastern regions such as Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, while haze pollution in the central and western regions is relative light. The threshold effect of formal and informal environmental regulations on haze pollution has significant regional differences. Further, industrial structure and technological level will suppress haze pollution, while structure of energy consumption and openness will promote haze pollution. At last, according to the situation of different regions, we put forward different environmental regulation policies for provinces and cities to control the haze.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

PM2.5 :

Haze pollution

hjgz:

Formal environmental regulation

fhjgz:

Informal environmental regulation

ind:

Industrial structure

tec:

Technique level

open:

Degree of openness

es:

Energy consumption structure

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the General Projects of National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 18BJY078), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42071161), the General project of Philosophy and Social Science research Foundation in Hunan Province, China (Grant No. XSP20YBC051), and the General project of Science Foundation of Education Bureau Hunan Province, China, for financial support (Grant No.19C1032).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Change Kuang, Wenhui Yu, Yong Yin, Dongchu Han & Shiyin Li

  2. School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha, 410205, China

    Jinsong Kuang

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Kuang, C., Yu, W., Yin, Y. et al. Heterogeneity environmental regulation and provincial haze pollution in China: an empirical study based on threshold model. Environ Dev Sustain 25, 14715–14732 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02685-w

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