scholarly journals Is a Regional Coordination Approach to Air Pollution Management Helpful? Evidence from China

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuehui Zhang ◽  
Zhidong Tan ◽  
Bao-Guang Chang ◽  
Kam C. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Administrative Management ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Regional Coordination ◽  
Pollution Management ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
The Government

In February 2017 China began to require the regional coordination of four ministries and 28 cities surrounding Beijing to manage air pollution. The Coordination attempts to unify air pollution standards and implements various new methods to monitor air pollution. Leveraging the natural experiment and using a difference-in-differences research design, we note that firms located in the treatment cities invest more in the environment than those in the control cities. In addition, we find that non-state-owned firms (non-SOEs) respond more strongly than SOEs. The findings remain qualitatively the same after accounting for selection bias in the cities included in the Coordination. Most importantly, air quality improves for treatment cities after the implementation of the Coordination. Our findings offer lessons to other emerging markets for implementing their air pollution management programs. Specifically, we sharpen our knowledge of the administrative management needed to improve coordination among government agencies and local officials in the management of air pollution and suggest that the government can play an active role in enhancing air pollution management.

scholarly journals Ecological Civilization Demonstration Zone, Air Pollution Reduction, and Political Promotion Tournament in China: Empirical Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 11880
Author(s):  
Haijie Wang ◽  
Yong Geng ◽  
Jingxue Zhang ◽  
Xiqiang Xia ◽  
Yanchao Feng
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ecological Civilization ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Binary Logit ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Promotion Tournament

Using the ecological civilization demonstration zone as a quasi-natural experiment, this study has explored the effect of it on air pollution in China by employing the difference-in-differences model and the spatial difference-in-differences model, and further tested the political promotion tournament in China by employing the binary logit model. The results show that the ecological civilization demonstration zone has basically and effectively reduced air pollution, except for carbon monoxide and ozone. In addition, the spatial spillover effects of the ecological civilization demonstration zone on air pollution are not only basically supported among the treated cities, but also extremely established in the untreated cities neighboring the treated cities. Furthermore, no clear evidence supports the establishment of the political promotion tournament in China, while local cadres tend to cope with the assessment of higher officials passively rather than actively. Overall, this study sheds light on the coordination of economic development and ecological civilization from the perspective of the career concerns of local cadres.

The Effects of School Closure Threats on Student Performance: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Ming Chiu ◽  
Sung Wook Joh ◽  
Lawrence Khoo
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
School Quality ◽  
School Closure ◽  
Excess Capacity ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Mainland Chinese ◽  
1997 Handover ◽  
The Government

Abstract We exploit a natural experiment to test whether school closure threats can increase staff effort and improve performance. The Hong Kong government overestimated post-1997-Handover mainland Chinese immigration and local births, creating excess capacity in many school districts. In 2003, with student enrollment falling to new lows (increasing cost per student), the government announced that it would close schools that were unable to recruit enough students. Since schools compete for students within their own district, the accidental excess capacity created closure threats that varied by district. Difference-in-differences analyses show that after initiation of this policy, student scores in heavily overbuilt districts were lower than scores in other districts and lowest in districts with the fewest students per class. Although closure threats were counterproductive for improving performance, the school closures eventually improved overall school quality, as typically, the lowest performing schools in each district closed.

scholarly journals Assistance in the implementation of the waste bank information system at the waste bank “Wiguna”, Sugihmas

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 2119-2123
Author(s):  
Agus Setiawan ◽  
Endah Ratna Arumi ◽  
Disyana Ajeng Pramesti
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Administrative Management ◽  
Bank Managers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Waste Bank

The waste generated by industry and households promotes intensive waste management. However, because the government fails to manage the waste, the community must play an active role in assisting. Plastic waste is a dangerous waste if not managed properly, so that the Wiguna Waste Bank is present with anxiety about the dangers of waste. The administrative management of the Wiguna waste bank still uses conventional bookkeeping. As a result, an information system was created to aid in the administration of the waste bank. The system was designed with the primary features of personal data, waste data, deposit notes, and savings. Waste bank managers benefit from the information system because reports can be easily generated, allowing the principle of accountability to be met.

scholarly journals The Improvement of Air Quality and Associated Mortality during the COVID-19 Lockdown in One Megacity of China: An Empirical Strategy

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8702
Author(s):  
Zhihu Xu ◽  
Ru Cao ◽  
Xin Hu ◽  
Wenxing Han ◽  
Yuxin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Real Effects ◽  
Green Transportation ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
The Government ◽  
Relative Change

Although the lockdown policy implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic indeed improved the air quality and reduced the related health risks, the real effects of the lockdown and its resulting health risks remain unclear considering the effects of unobserved confounders and the longstanding efforts of the government regarding air pollution. We compared air pollution between the lockdown period and the period before the lockdown using a difference-in-differences (DID) model and estimated the mortality burden caused by the number of deaths related to air pollution changes. The NO2 and CO concentrations during the lockdown period (17 days) declined by 8.94 μg/m3 (relative change: 16.94%; 95% CI: 3.71, 14.16) and 0.20 mg/m3 (relative change: 16.95%; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.35) on an average day, respectively, and O3 increased by 8.41 μg/m3 (relative change: 32.80%; 95% CI: 4.39, 12.43); no meaningful impacts of the lockdown policy on the PM2.5, PM10, SO2, or the AQI values were observed. Based on the three clearly changed air pollutants, the lockdown policy prevented 8.22 (95% CI: 3.97, 12.49) all-cause deaths. Our findings suggest that the overall excess deaths caused by air pollution during the lockdown period declined. It is beneficial for human health when strict control measures, such as upgrading industry structure and promoting green transportation, are taken to reduce emissions, especially in cities with serious air pollution in China, such as Shijiazhuang.

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY SMALL PIG FARM ODOR AROUND THE WESTERN SONGKHLA LAKE BASIN

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Papontee Teeraphan
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Urgent Problem ◽  
The Public ◽  
Pig Farms ◽  
Pig Farm ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Source Of Information ◽  
Proper Solutions

Pollution is currently a significant issue arising awareness throughout the world. In Thailand, pollution can often be seen in any part of the country. Air pollution is pointed as an urgent problem. This pollution has not damaged only to human health and lives, it has destroyed environment, and possibly leading to violence. In Phattalung, air pollution is affecting to the residents’ lives. Especially, when the residents who are mostly agriculturists have not managed the waste resulted from the farm. In Phattalung, at the moment, there are many pig farms, big and small. Some of them are only for consuming for a family, some, however, are being consumed for the business which pigs will be later purchased by big business companies. Therefore, concerning pollution, the researcher and the fund giver were keen to focus on the points of the air pollution of the small pig farms. This is because it has been said that those farms have not been aware on the pollution issue caused by the farms. Farm odor is very interesting which can probably lead to following problems. The researcher also hopes that this research can be used as a source of information by the government offices in order to be made even as a policy or a proper legal measurement. As the results, the study shows that, first, more than half of the samples had smelled the farm odor located nearby their communities, though it had not caused many offenses. Second, the majority had decided not to act or response in order to solve the odor problem, but some of them had informed the officers. The proper solutions in reducing offenses caused by pig farm odor were negotiation and mediation. Last, the majority does not perceive about the process under the Public Health Act B.E. 2535.

scholarly journals How Promotion Incentives and Environmental Regulations Affect China’s Environmental Pollution?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2907
Author(s):  
Shiwen Liu ◽  
Zhong Zhang ◽  
Guangyao Xu ◽  
Zhen Zhang ◽  
Hongyuan Li
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Performance Appraisal ◽  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Environmental Regulations ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Appraisal System ◽  
Interaction Terms ◽  
Cooperation Mechanism ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
The Government

As for the academics and policymakers, more attention has been given to the issue on how to reduce environmental pollution through the cooperation of environmental regulation and local officials’ promotion incentives. With the use of a city-level panel data of 266 Chinese cities from 2005 to 2016, this study preliminary explores the impacts of environmental regulations, local officials’ promotion incentives, and their interaction terms on urban environmental pollution at national and regional levels by using the spatial Durbin model. The results indicate that the impacts of environmental regulations and local officials’ promotion incentives on urban environmental pollution have achieved the desired goal with the other’s cooperation, and their interaction term’s coefficients on urban environmental pollution are significantly negative. Moreover, spatial heterogeneity is established, and the uneven development of urban environmental pollution among different regions deserves more attention. In order to effectively reduce the level of urban environmental pollution in China, the government should focus on such solutions as enhancing the implementation and supervision efficiency of environmental regulation, optimizing the performance appraisal system of local officials, improving the synergistic effects of environmental regulations and local officials’ promotion incentives, and establishing a multi-scale spatial cooperation mechanism based on both geographical and economic correlations.

scholarly journals Does the “Miracle Drug” of Environmental Governance Really Improve Air Quality? Evidence from China’s System of Central Environmental Protection Inspections

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruxin Wu ◽  
Piao Hu
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Treatment Effect ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
The Media ◽  
Positive Effect

Central environmental protection inspections have completed their goal of full coverage of 31 provinces in China, and more than 17,000 officials have been held accountable. The media has evaluated the effectiveness of central environmental protection inspections using the notions of “instant results” and the “miracle drug of environmental governance.” Can this approach effectively promote local environmental governance? This paper takes the treatment effect of central environmental protection inspections on air pollution as an example. Using the method of regression discontinuity, central environmental protection inspections are found to have a positive effect on the air quality index (AQI), but this effect is only short term and unsustainable. Additionally, there are inter-provincial differences. Judging from the research results on sub-contaminants, the treatment effect of central environmental protection inspections on air pollution is mainly reflected in PM10, PM2.5 and CO. Under the current situation in which PM10 and PM2.5 are the main assessment indexes, this phenomenon indicates that due to the political achievements and promotion of local officials and for reasons of accountability, it is more effective for the central government to conduct specific environmental assessments through local governments than to conduct central environmental protection inspections.

Corporate social responsibility between public policy and enterprise policy

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Bredgaard
Keyword(s):  
Market Integration ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Unemployed

In spite of – or maybe precisely because of – its inherent vagueness, ambiguity and multidimensionality, CSR has increasingly come into vogue with the EU institutions, national governments and numerous European companies. This article identifies four types of CSR approaches: (1) CSR between business and society (e.g. the US approach); (2) CSR in business (e.g. HRM within firms); (3) CSR between business and government (e.g. the European Commission's approach) and (4) CSR between employment policy and business (e.g. the Danish approach). Denmark, which provides the case study of the article, typifies an approach to CSR in which the government and social partners have played an active role in promoting CSR and where initiatives have focused narrowly on employers’ responsibilities for the recruitment, training, development and dismissal of labour. The Danish case thus allows for a discussion of the role of public authorities and social partners in CSR, a discussion often neglected in mainstream CSR literature. The main question addressed in the article is how links can be created between policy instruments and business interests in order to reduce workplace exclusion and promote the labour market integration of the unemployed and inactive. We propose a framework that transcends the dichotomy between voluntarism and coercion that characterises much of the CSR discussion by suggesting different, but complementary, roles of public authorities and social partners in CSR.

How corruption investigations undermine regime support: evidence from China

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Yuhua Wang ◽  
Bruce J. Dickson
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government ◽  
Regime Support ◽  
Support Evidence

Abstract Authoritarian leaders around the world often fight against corruption in an effort to win public support. Conventional wisdom holds that this strategy works because leaders can signal their benevolent intentions by removing corrupt officials. We argue that fighting against corruption can undermine regime support. By revealing scandals of corrupt officials, corruption investigations can alter citizens' beliefs about public officials and lead to disenchantment about political institutions. We test this argument by examining how China's current anti-corruption campaign has changed citizens' public support for the government and the Communist Party. We analyze the results of two original surveys conducted before and during the campaign, and employ a difference-in-differences strategy to show that corruption investigations, at the margin, suppress respondents' support for the central government and party. We also examine our respondents' prior and posterior beliefs, and the results support our updating mechanism.

“Air pollution arrested not imprisoned”: The impact of laws invoked on Covid-19 city lockdowns

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Mensah Aboagye ◽  
◽  
Nana Osei Owusu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Health ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Air pollution continues to be an environmental problem that poses a lot of health risks to the young and aged. Developed countries have invested heavily to curb this environmental problem, causing severe threats to human lives, yet the results do not look convincing. In developing countries, the situation is difficult than they can imagine, resulting in governments borrowing to fight what looks like a lost battle [1-3]. The in-depth study of this environmental menace - air pollution, suggests that the government enacts stringent measures to help fight this battle. This is because air pollution has natural (volcanic eruption) and anthropogenic (human activities) causes. In December 2019, the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak was soon declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) [4]. Majority of countries have had their share of the impact of this outbreak. Many countries resorted to city lockdown to strictly control the movement of people and economic activities as recommended by WHO.

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