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The Effect of Social Capital on Environmental Pollution in China—Suppression or Promotion?

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  • Yuxin Wang

    (School of Economics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230601, China)

  • Jinping Xiong

    (School of Economics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230601, China)

  • Wenlong Li

    (School of Economics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230601, China)

  • Ming Na

    (School of Economics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230601, China)

  • Mei Yao

    (School of Mathematics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230601, China)

Abstract

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly regards the prevention and control of environmental pollution as one of the “three key battles” to build a well-off society. This paper analyzes the relationship between social capital and environmental pollution from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. From the theoretical perspective, social capital has two opposite effects on environmental pollution: the suppression and the promotion. The former indicates that the improvement of social capital level reduces the cost of residents’ boycott to pollution and reduces pollution emissions, while the latter manifests that the improvement of social capital worsens environmental pollution due to the ability of polluting enterprises to withstand residents’ boycott. Based on the panel data of China from 2008 to 2016, the empirical results show that social capital has inverted U-shaped characteristics on environmental pollution. Low level of social capital will increase pollution emissions and only when social capital reaches a certain level can it be beneficial to environmental protection. This paper attempts to better understand the functions of social capital in environmental governance and provides constructive proposals on how to exert the governance role of social capital on environmental protection for policy makers. Regions with higher levels of social capital should exert the suppression effect of social capital and regions with low levels should focus on improving the level of social capital, while formal regulation means shall be adopted to control pollution.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuxin Wang & Jinping Xiong & Wenlong Li & Ming Na & Mei Yao, 2020. "The Effect of Social Capital on Environmental Pollution in China—Suppression or Promotion?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:24:p:9459-:d:463886
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paudel, Krishna P. & Zapata, Hector O. & Schafer, Mark J. & Marzoughi, Hassan, 2005. "Does Social Capital Have a Role in Environmental Kuznets Curve? Spatial Panel Regression Approach," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19457, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    2. Heinkel, Robert & Kraus, Alan & Zechner, Josef, 2001. "The Effect of Green Investment on Corporate Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 431-449, December.
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    4. Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2004. "Trade, Growth, and the Environment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(1), pages 7-71, March.
    5. B. d'Hombres & L. Rocco & M. Suhrcke & M. McKee, 2010. "Does social capital determine health? Evidence from eight transition countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(1), pages 56-74, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yanqiang Du & Pingyang Liu & Shipeng Su & Linyi Zhou, 2022. "The Sharing of Costs and Benefits of Rural Environmental Pollution Governance in China: A Qualitative Analysis through Guanxi Networks Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Hai Li & Hui Liu, 2023. "Climate Change, Farm Irrigation Facilities, and Agriculture Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Zhifeng Zhang & Haodong Xu & Shuangshuang Shan & Yuqi Lu & Hongyan Duan, 2022. "The Impact of Ecological Civilization Construction on Environment and Public Health—Evidence from the Implementation of Ecological Civilization Demonstration Area in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-19, April.
    4. Lingyun Mi & Tianwen Jia & Yang Yang & Lulu Jiang & Bangjun Wang & Tao Lv & Le Li & Junfeng Cao, 2021. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Regional Ecological Civilization Policy: Evidence from Jiangsu Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-20, December.

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