IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v161y2022ics0301421521005991.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of environmental accountability on air pollution: A public attention perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Xing
  • Hu, Zhigao
  • Cao, Jianhua
  • Xu, Xing

Abstract

Public attention to environment is an important form of environmental accountability, and is conducive to assisting the government in strengthening the control of air pollution. By using 7 types of daily air pollution data from 321 cities in China from December 1, 2013 to December 31, 2018, and merging with Baidu Index data, we studied the causal relationship between public attention and air pollution. The results show that public attention could reduce air pollution. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the suppression effect of public attention on air pollution is stronger in large, first-tier, and ministerial cites and cities with severe air pollution. Mechanism analysis shows that public attention could reduce air pollution through “complaint to the government” and “concern about health”. Dynamic analysis shows that public attention is gradually increasing in restraining air pollution. This paper not only provide policy reference for the efficient control of air pollution in China and other developing countries, but also provide important insights for developed countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Xing & Hu, Zhigao & Cao, Jianhua & Xu, Xing, 2022. "The impact of environmental accountability on air pollution: A public attention perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:161:y:2022:i:c:s0301421521005991
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112733
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421521005991
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112733?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. Eric Neumayer, 2002. "Do Democracies Exhibit Stronger International Environmental Commitment? A Cross-country Analysis," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 39(2), pages 139-164, March.
    2. Teresa Kramarz & Susan Park, 2016. "Accountability in Global Environmental Governance: A Meaningful Tool for Action?," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(2), pages 1-21, May.
    3. He, Qichun, 2015. "Fiscal decentralization and environmental pollution: Evidence from Chinese panel data," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 86-100.
    4. Zheng, Siqi & Kahn, Matthew E. & Sun, Weizeng & Luo, Danglun, 2014. "Incentives for China's urban mayors to mitigate pollution externalities: The role of the central government and public environmentalism," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 61-71.
    5. Bättig, Michèle B. & Bernauer, Thomas, 2009. "National Institutions and Global Public Goods: Are Democracies More Cooperative in Climate Change Policy?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 281-308, April.
    6. Susmita Dasgupta & Mainul Huq & David Wheeler & Chonghua Zhang, 2001. "Water pollution abatement by Chinese industry: cost estimates and policy implications," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 547-557.
    7. Haixiao Huang & Gay Y. Miller, 2006. "Citizen Complaints, Regulatory Violations, and Their Implications for Swine Operations in Illinois," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 28(1), pages 89-110.
    8. Haixiao Huang & Gay Y. Miller, 2006. "Citizen Complaints, Regulatory Violations, and Their Implications for Swine Operations in Illinois," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 28(1), pages 89-110.
    9. Roger L. Burritt, 2012. "Environmental performance accountability: planet, people, profits," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 370-405, February.
    10. Liu, Fengqi & Kang, Yuxin & Guo, Kun & Sun, Xiaolei, 2021. "The relationship between air pollution, investor attention and stock prices: Evidence from new energy and polluting sectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    11. Burtraw, Dallas & Krupnick, Alan & Palmer, Karen & Paul, Anthony & Toman, Michael & Bloyd, Cary, 2003. "Ancillary benefits of reduced air pollution in the US from moderate greenhouse gas mitigation policies in the electricity sector," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 650-673, May.
    12. Schaffer, Lena Maria & Bernauer, Thomas, 2014. "Explaining government choices for promoting renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 15-27.
    13. Hannelore Bové & Eva Bongaerts & Eli Slenders & Esmée M. Bijnens & Nelly D. Saenen & Wilfried Gyselaers & Peter Van Eyken & Michelle Plusquin & Maarten B. J. Roeffaers & Marcel Ameloot & Tim S. Nawrot, 2019. "Ambient black carbon particles reach the fetal side of human placenta," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-7, December.
    14. Everard, Mark & Reed, Mark S. & Kenter, Jasper O., 2016. "The ripple effect: Institutionalising pro-environmental values to shift societal norms and behaviours," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(PB), pages 230-240.
    15. Weersink, Alfons & Raymond, Mark, 2007. "Environmental regulations impact on agricultural spills and citizen complaints," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 654-660, January.
    16. Zhang, Shengling & Li, Yue & Hao, Yu & Zhang, Yipeng, 2018. "Does public opinion affect air quality? Evidence based on the monthly data of 109 prefecture-level cities in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 299-311.
    17. Sun, Chuanwang & Yuan, Xiang & Yao, Xin, 2016. "Social acceptance towards the air pollution in China: Evidence from public's willingness to pay for smog mitigation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 313-324.
    18. Jia, Ruining & Shao, Shuai & Yang, Lili, 2021. "High-speed rail and CO2 emissions in urban China: A spatial difference-in-differences approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    19. Zhihua Tian & Yanfang Tian & Yang Chen & Shuai Shao, 2020. "The economic consequences of environmental regulation in China: From a perspective of the environmental protection admonishing talk policy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 1723-1733, May.
    20. Guangqin Li & Shiyu Lu & Shuai Shao & Lili Yang & Ke Zhang, 2021. "Do environmental regulations hamper small enterprises' market entry? Evidence from China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 252-266, January.
    21. Yang, Zhenbing & Shao, Shuai & Fan, Meiting & Yang, Lili, 2021. "Wage distortion and green technological progress: A directed technological progress perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    22. Kolstad, Charles, 2011. "Intermediate Environmental Economics: International Edition," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780199732654.
    23. Zheng, Shilin & Ward, Michael R., 2011. "The effects of market liberalization and privatization on Chinese telecommunications," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 210-220, June.
    24. Douglas Almond & Yuyu Chen & Michael Greenstone & Hongbin Li, 2009. "Winter Heating or Clean Air? Unintended Impacts of China's Huai River Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 184-190, May.
    25. Shuai Shao & Zhigao Hu & Jianhua Cao & Lili Yang & Dabo Guan, 2020. "Environmental Regulation and Enterprise Innovation: A Review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1465-1478, March.
    26. Liqiang Zhang & Weiwei Liu & Kun Hou & Jintai Lin & Chenghu Zhou & Xiaohua Tong & Ziye Wang & Yuebin Wang & Yanxiao Jiang & Ziwei Wang & Yibo Zheng & Yonglian Lan & Suhong Liu & Ruijing Ni & Mengyao L, 2019. "Air pollution-induced missed abortion risk for pregnancies," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(11), pages 1011-1017, November.
    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. Wang, Jiaxin & Qiang, Haofan & Liang, Yuchao & Huang, Xiang & Zhong, Wenrui, 2024. "How carbon risk affects corporate debt defaults: Evidence from Paris agreement," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    2. Li, Xing & Yang, Gang & Shao, Tihang & Yang, Dan & Liu, Zimin, 2024. "Does digital infrastructure promote individual entrepreneurship? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment on the “Broadband China” strategy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    3. Ma, Guangcheng & Qin, Jiahong & Zhang, Yumeng, 2023. "Does the carbon emissions trading system reduce carbon emissions by promoting two-way FDI in developing countries? Evidence from Chinese listed companies and cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Lin Dong & Zuobao Wang & Yuxiang Zhou, 2023. "Public Participation and the Effect of Environmental Governance in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, March.
    5. Mengzhi Xu & Jixia Li & Zeyu Ping & Qianming Zhang & Tengfei Liu & Can Zhang & Huachun Wang, 2022. "Can Local Government’s Attention Allocated to Green Innovation Improve the Green Innovation Efficiency?—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    6. Guo, Zhangdong & Zhang, Xiaoning, 2024. "Has the healthy city pilot policy improved urban air quality in China? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    7. Delin Meng & Yanxi Li & Lan Wang, 2024. "Seeking legitimacy? “Ownerless” companies and environmental performance," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 27375-27408, November.
    8. Jintian Wang & Shouchang You & Ephraim Bonah Agyekum & Clement Matasane & Solomon Eghosa Uhunamure, 2022. "Exploring the Impacts of Renewable Energy, Environmental Regulations, and Democracy on Ecological Footprints in the Next Eleven Nations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-13, September.
    9. Sun, Zhennan & Du, Qunyang & Du, Anna Min & Li, Zhongyuan & Yang, Tianle, 2024. "The information environment and ecological environment perspectives: Capital market openness and firm ESG rating divergence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Dong-Her Shih & To Thi Hien & Ly Sy Phu Nguyen & Ting-Wei Wu & Yen-Ting Lai, 2022. "A Modified γ -Sutte Indicator for Air Quality Index Prediction," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(17), pages 1-15, August.
    11. Shuihua Han & Yudi Mo & Zhenyuan Liu & Cheng Lei & Zhen Ye, 2024. "The impact of public climate change concern on sustainable product consumption: a case study of new energy vehicles in China," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 342(1), pages 323-353, November.
    12. Wang, Weilong & Xiao, Deheng & Wang, Jianlong & Wu, Haitao, 2024. "The cost of pollution in the digital era: Impediments of air pollution on enterprise digital transformation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    13. Li, Xing & Liu, Zimin & Wu, Honglei & Yang, Dan, 2024. "Calculation and optimization of China's power distortion under carbon peaking target," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    14. Wang Rongjuan, 2023. "How multiple interactions between policy instruments and the policy environment affect environmental governance efficiency," Energy & Environment, , vol. 34(3), pages 621-639, May.
    15. Fengyan Wang & Ziyuan Sun & Hua Feng, 2022. "Can Media Attention Promote Green Innovation of Chinese Enterprises? Regulatory Effect of Environmental Regulation and Green Finance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-25, September.
    16. Daquan Gao & Christina W. Y. Wong & Kee-hung Lai, 2023. "Development of Ecosystem for Corporate Green Innovation: Resource Dependency Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-28, March.
    17. Yiwan Sun & Fan Yang, 2022. "Does Green Investment Improve the Comprehensive Performance of Enterprises? A Study on Large and Medium-Sized Steel Enterprises in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
    18. Jin, Sensen & Deng, Feng, 2024. "Impact of public environmental concern on urban-rural economic income inequality," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1131-1143.
    19. Kang Pan & Feng He, 2022. "Does Public Environmental Attention Improve Green Investment Efficiency?—Based on the Perspective of Environmental Regulation and Environmental Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, October.
    20. Zhuo, Chong & Luo, Kang & Song, Yaning & Dai, Ling & Liu, Yaobin, 2024. "Regional coordinated development and green transformation: Evidence from major national strategic zones," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1290-1307.
    21. Ma, Dan & Zhu, Yanjin, 2024. "The impact of economic uncertainty on carbon emission: Evidence from China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(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. Scott, Ryan P., 2018. "Should we call the neighbors? Voluntary deliberation and citizen complaints about oil and gas drilling," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 258-272.
    2. Joseph Paul Lavallee & Bruno Di Giusto & Tai-Yi Yu & Su-Pin Hung, 2022. "Reliability and Validity of Widely Used International Surveys on the Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-22, September.
    3. Xuepeng Ji & Daoqin Tong & Lisha Cheng & Xiaowei Chuai & Xiyan Mao & Binglin Liu & Xianjin Huang, 2021. "Spatial Analysis of Citizens’ Environmental Complaints in China: Implications in Environmental Monitoring and Governance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-20, September.
    4. Timo Goeschl & Ole Jürgens, 2012. "Environmental quality and welfare effects of improving the reporting capability of citizen monitoring schemes," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 264-286, December.
    5. Beatty, Timothy & Shimshack, Jay P., 2018. "Monitoring and Enforcement in a Food Safety Context," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273913, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Yiwan Sun & Fan Yang, 2022. "Does Green Investment Improve the Comprehensive Performance of Enterprises? A Study on Large and Medium-Sized Steel Enterprises in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Daniel Fiorino, 2011. "Explaining national environmental performance: approaches, evidence, and implications," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 44(4), pages 367-389, November.
    8. Deng, Yuping & Wu, Yanrui & Xu, Helian, 2019. "Political turnover and firm pollution discharges: An empirical study," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    9. Colmer, Jonathan Mark & Evans, Mary F. & Shimshack, Jay, 2023. "Environmental citizen complaints," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121326, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Qi, Xiulin & Wu, Zhifang & Xu, Jinqing & Shan, Biaoan, 2023. "Environmental justice and green innovation: A quasi-natural experiment based on the establishment of environmental courts in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    11. Fabio Antoniou & Efthymia Kyriakopoulou, 2019. "On the Strategic Effect of International Permits Trading on Local Pollution," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(3), pages 1299-1329, November.
    12. Xu, Le & Yang, Lili & Li, Ding & Shao, Shuai, 2023. "Asymmetric effects of heterogeneous environmental standards on green technology innovation: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    13. Tang, Chang & Xu, Yuanyuan & Hao, Yu & Wu, Haitao & Xue, Yan, 2021. "What is the role of telecommunications infrastructure construction in green technology innovation? A firm-level analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    14. Wang, Ying & Li, Mingsheng, 2022. "Credit policy and its heterogeneous effects on green innovations," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    15. Hongshan Ai & Shenglan Hu & Ke Li & Shuai Shao, 2020. "Environmental regulation, total factor productivity, and enterprise duration: Evidence from China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2284-2296, September.
    16. Muyao Li & Jinsong Zhang & Ramakrishnan Ramanathan & Ruiqian Li, 2020. "Opening the Black Box: The Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Technological Innovation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-18, June.
    17. Yu, Yunjiang & Dai, Chun & Wei, Yigang & Ren, Huiming & Zhou, Jiawen, 2022. "Air pollution prevention and control action plan substantially reduced PM2.5 concentration in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    18. Yu Hao & Yunxia Guo & Haitao Wu, 2022. "The role of information and communication technology on green total factor energy efficiency: Does environmental regulation work?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 403-424, January.
    19. Kwideok Han & Jeffrey Vitale & Yong-Geon Lee & Inbae Ji, 2022. "Measuring the Economic Value of the Negative Externality of Livestock Malodor in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-13, August.
    20. Lei Liu & Zhaotian Yang & Suqin Song, 2021. "Does ranking stimulate government performance? Evidence from China’s key environmental protection cities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 699-725, December.

    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:enepol:v:161:y:2022:i:c:s0301421521005991. 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/enpol .

    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.