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The impact of industrial agglomeration on industrial pollutant emission: evidence from China under New Normal

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the environmental pollution effects elicited by industrial agglomeration and to devise necessary changes before and after China going into the New Normal, a contemporary phase of less rapid but more sustainable economic development. An empirical model is constructed based on the Copeland–Taylor model, and empirical research is conducted using statistical panel data derived from 285 Chinese cities between 2003 and 2014. To study the relationship between industrial agglomeration and industrial pollutant emission both before and after the ‘New Normal,’ the sample data are divided into two time periods: 2003–2008 and 2009–2014. Estimated results are as follows. First, industrial agglomeration exacerbates industrial pollution levels overall although the negative environmental effect of industrial agglomeration is weakened following China’s entry into the New Normal phase of economy. Second, both the interaction term of industrial agglomeration and foreign direct investment (FDI) and the interaction term of industrial agglomeration and environmental regulation are negatively related to industrial agglomeration. These findings indicate that FDI and environmental regulation can indirectly reduce industrial pollutant emissions by way of industrial agglomeration.

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Notes

  1. The data unit of FDI in China’s city book is million US dollar; in order to weed out exchange rate fluctuating, we first convert the data unit into RMB using the annual average exchange rate.

  2. There are 292 prefecture level cities in China now. In order to meet the integrity of the data, this paper just uses data of 285 cities, excluding Zhongwei, Longnan, Chaohu, Bijie, Tongren, Sansha and Lasha.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to the comments from three anonymous referees and editors of Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy. This work was supported by Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China [15ZDA053] and Key Program of the National Social Science Foundation Project of China [14AZD021].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Xiaolingwei 200, 210094, Nanjing, China

    Suxia Liu, Yingming Zhu & Kuanqi Du

  2. Business School, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China

    Suxia Liu

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  1. Suxia Liu
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  2. Yingming Zhu
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  3. Kuanqi Du
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Correspondence to Suxia Liu.

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Liu, S., Zhu, Y. & Du, K. The impact of industrial agglomeration on industrial pollutant emission: evidence from China under New Normal. Clean Techn Environ Policy 19, 2327–2334 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1407-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1407-0

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