IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v79y2023ics1043951x23000366.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does export liberalization cause the agglomeration of pollution? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Xiaoping
  • Shao, Yuchen
  • Zhao, Xiaotao

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of export liberalization on the geographic concentration of water pollution. Data shows that water pollution emissions are unevenly distributed across regions in China. Using China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the exogenous shock, we identify a negative causal effect of export liberalization on the agglomeration of water pollution across regions in China. It suggests that relatively more water pollution is discharged in those previously low-pollution regions after export liberalization. We confirm this with data on regional relative pollution emissions. Further decomposition shows that it is the intensive margin (average pollution emission) rather than the extensive margin (number of polluting firms) that drives the deglomeration of water pollution emissions within the liberalized industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Xiaoping & Shao, Yuchen & Zhao, Xiaotao, 2023. "Does export liberalization cause the agglomeration of pollution? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:79:y:2023:i:c:s1043951x23000366
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2023.101951
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X23000366
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2023.101951?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wenhao Yang & Yuanzhe Huang & Jinsong Ye & Changbiao Zhong, 2024. "Trade and Water Pollution: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Dan Xie, 2024. "China’s Manufacturing Pollution, Environmental Regulation and Trade," FIW Working Paper series 198, FIW.
    3. Yiming Zhang & Zuoliang Ye & Kaijun Gan, 2024. "Trade Liberalization and Pollutant Emissions: Micro Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Chen, Ming & Wang, Hongbo, 2024. "Can export trade drive green transformation development of Chinese enterprises? based on the dual perspectives of export density and export domestic value-added rate," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Water pollution; Agglomeration; Spatial Gini; Export liberalization; Trade policy uncertainty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F18 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Environment
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:79:y:2023:i:c:s1043951x23000366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.