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Does Coastal Local Government Competition Increase Coastal Water Pollution? Evidence from China

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  • Weiteng Shen

    (School of Business, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China)

  • Qiuguang Hu

    (School of Business, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
    East China Sea Institute, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China)

  • Xuan Yu

    (School of Business, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China)

  • Bernadette Tadala Imwa

    (School of Business, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China)

Abstract

China has formulated many policies and regulations for the management of the coastal water environment. However, the coastal water environment has not been significantly improved. The perspective of local government competition can provide an explanation for this phenomenon. This study uses panel data comprising 48 coastal cities in China from 2004 to 2017 as bases explore the impact of coastal local government competition on coastal water pollution by using a two-way fixed-effects panel regression model. Results show that coastal local government competition increased coastal water pollution. However, a sub-sample estimation based on fiscal pressure shows that coastal local government competition only increased the coastal water pollution of the high fiscal pressure group, and its impact on the coastal water pollution in the low financial pressure group failed to pass the significance test. In addition, sub-sample estimation based on different periods shows that the impact of coastal local government competition on coastal water pollution was not significant before 2008, but showed a significant positive impact after 2008.

Suggested Citation

  • Weiteng Shen & Qiuguang Hu & Xuan Yu & Bernadette Tadala Imwa, 2020. "Does Coastal Local Government Competition Increase Coastal Water Pollution? Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-18, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6862-:d:416252
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    Cited by:

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