Abstract
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.
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Notes
The defense of the blue sky was proposed by the Chinese government in 2017 to prevent air pollution. In 2017, the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides will decrease by 3% and the PM2.5 concentration in key areas will significantly decrease. In order to further improve air quality, the Chinese government has addressed pollution from several perspectives. One of the measures is to strengthen the management of vehicle exhaust.
The eastern region mainly includes Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong, and Hainan. The central region includes Shanxi, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, and Hunan. The western region includes Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Guangxi, and Inner Mongolia.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [Grant No. 71704065], the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China [Grant No.2020A151501226] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities-Ningjingzhiyuan Project of Jinan University [19JNQM21].
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Chen, Z., Zhang, X. & Chen, F. Have driving restrictions reduced air pollution: evidence from prefecture-level cities of China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 3106–3120 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10664-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10664-9