IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v136y2024ics0140988324003232.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Administrative-led urbanization and urban carbon emission intensity: Evidence from city-county merger in China

Author

Listed:
  • Qiao, Junfeng
  • Li, Yuan
  • Yu, Jie

Abstract

Cities in China are concentrated areas of energy consumption and carbon emission. Thus, controlling urban carbon emission intensity is the key to achieving “carbon neutrality” and “carbon peak” goals. Administrative urbanization, for which city–county merger (CCM) plays an important role, is yet to be examined to understand whether it intensified carbon emissions. This study uses panel data of 269 cities from 2008 to 2019 and staggered difference-in-differences method to analyze the impact of administrative-led urbanization on urban carbon emission intensity. The results reveal that the CCM significantly increased urban carbon emission intensity. A mechanism test shows that the CCM can increase carbon emission intensity by inhibiting industrial structure upgrading and promoting urban infrastructure construction. Heterogeneity analysis shows that there is no significant regional difference in carbon intensity; however, regional difference has a more significant positive impact on carbon intensity of sub-provincial cities, general prefecture-level cities, and strong counties with districts.

Suggested Citation

  • Qiao, Junfeng & Li, Yuan & Yu, Jie, 2024. "Administrative-led urbanization and urban carbon emission intensity: Evidence from city-county merger in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:136:y:2024:i:c:s0140988324003232
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2024.107615
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988324003232
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2024.107615?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Maruotti, Antonello, 2011. "The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions: Evidence from developing countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1344-1353, May.
    2. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    3. Wei Tang & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, 2017. "Do city–county mergers in China promote local economic development?," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 25(3), pages 439-469, July.
    4. Sheng, Pengfei & Guo, Xiaohui, 2016. "The Long-run and Short-run Impacts of Urbanization on Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 208-215.
    5. Feng, Yidai & Yuan, Huaxi & Liu, Yaobin & Zhang, Shaohui, 2023. "Does new-type urbanization policy promote green energy efficiency? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    6. Yuan, Huaxi & Zou, Longhui & Feng, Yidai, 2023. "How to achieve emission reduction without hindering economic growth? The role of judicial quality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    7. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    8. Li, Pei & Lu, Yi & Wang, Jin, 2016. "Does flattening government improve economic performance? Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 18-37.
    9. Feng, Yidai & Yuan, Huaxi & Liu, Yaobin, 2023. "The energy-saving effect in the new transformation of urbanization," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 41-59.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Zhou, Peng & Huang, Xiaoqi & Song, Frank M., 2024. "The deterrent effect of environmental judicature on firms' pollution emissions: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liang, Benbo & He, Gailei & Wang, Yuran, 2024. "The digital economy, market integration and environmental gains," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    2. Shiyi Chen & Wanlin Liu & Hong Song & Qing Zhang, 2024. "Government‐led e‐commerce expansion project and rural household income: Evidence and mechanisms," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 150-174, January.
    3. Nie, Song, 2024. "Does intellectual property rights protection matter for low-carbon transition? The role of institutional incentives," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Xufei Zhang & Hongsheng Fang & Lin Guo, 2023. "Corporate Endowment Insurance Fee Reduction and Employee Wages: Evidence from China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 31(2), pages 192-222, March.
    5. Kai Hu & Dandan Li & Daqian Shi & Wenli Xu, 2023. "Environmental regulation and energy efficiency: evidence from daily penalty policy in China," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 1-29, April.
    6. You, Chen & Cifuentes-Faura, Javier & Liu, Xiaoqian & Wu, Jinqun, 2024. "Can the government environmental vertical reform reduce air pollution? A quasi-natural experiment in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 947-963.
    7. Yuanjie Deng & Lu Ming & Yifeng Hai & Hang Chen & Dingdi Jize & Ji Luo & Xiaohan Yan & Xiaolong Zhang & Shunbo Yao & Mengyang Hou, 2024. "Has the Establishment of National Key Ecological Function Zones Improved Eco-Environmental Quality?—Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in 130 Counties in Sichuan Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, May.
    8. Chen, Hongwen & Cheng, Ken & Zhang, Meiyang, 2023. "Does geographic proximity affect firms’ cross-regional development? Evidence from high-speed rail construction in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    9. Wu, Maozhen & Zhang, Penglong, 2024. "Poverty alleviation and pollution reduction: Evidence from the poverty hat removal program in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 56-76.
    10. Zhang, Lu & Chen, Juejin & Wang, Yuan, 2024. "Appointing bankers as governors: Bureaucratic transfers and local government debt dynamics," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    11. repec:ags:aaea22:335534 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Zhou, Tao & Huang, Xuhui & Zhang, Ning, 2023. "The effect of innovation pilot on carbon total factor productivity: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    13. Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Chenhao & Ye, Wenxu, 2023. "Randomized inspection and firm's government subsidies: A natural experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    14. Bargain, Olivier B. & Vincent, Rose Camille & Caldeira, Emilie, 2024. "Shine a (Night)Light: Decentralization and Economic Development in Burkina Faso," IZA Discussion Papers 17459, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Niu, Geng & Jin, XiaoShu & Wang, Qi & Zhou, Yang, 2022. "Broadband infrastructure and digital financial inclusion in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    16. Changteng Nie & Jianxiang Wan, 2023. "How Does Internet Infrastructure Construction Affect the Urban–Rural Income Gap? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 23(3), pages 317-337, July.
    17. Cheng, Qi & Yang, Jun, 2024. "High-speed rail, resource allocation and haze pollution in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 124-139.
    18. Wu, Jianxian & Nie, Xin & Wang, Han, 2023. "Curse to blessing: The carbon emissions trading system and resource-based cities' carbon mitigation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    19. Huang, Xuhui & Zhou, Tao & Zhang, Ning, 2025. "How does the carbon market influence the marginal abatement cost? Evidence from China's coal-fired power plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 378(PA).
    20. Wang, Mingzhe & Huang, Hai & Xiong, Jie & Yuan, Zhe & Zeng, Keya, 2023. "Impact of ecological reserves on the local residents’ health: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    21. Zhao, Da & Guo, Jingyuan & Yu, Shule & Yu, Litian, 2024. "Tradeoff between local protection and public sector performance: Lessons from judicial fiscal centralization," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 254-278.

    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:eneeco:v:136:y:2024:i:c:s0140988324003232. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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/eneco .

    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.