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Air Pollution Control: An Analysis of China’s Industrial Off-Peak Production Policy through the Quasi-Natural Experiment Method

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  • Xindi Xu

    (Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China)

  • Qinyun Wang

    (School of Economics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China)

  • Haichao Hu

    (School of Economics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China)

  • Xinjun Wang

    (Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China)

Abstract

To reduce frequent heavy air pollution, the Chinese government suspends clinker production during the heating season in most areas of the North, which is known as the Clinker Off-peak Production Policy. The questions regarding such a repressive production policy for environmental purposes are whether this policy is effective in reducing pollutants and whether the marginal cost is high. To explore these policy effects, a quasi-experiment is designed, taking advantage of spatial-temporal variations in policy implementation. With the triple-difference method and environmental satellite data, the effect on air pollution is estimated to be −1900 μg/m 2 (~2%) of SO 2 and −3200 μg/m 2 (~10%) of NO 2 . With daily price information and the difference-in-differences method, the market effect is estimated to be an approximately 10% increase in annual sale prices. The marginal cost estimated through a back-of-the-envelope analysis is 32 k RMB yuan/ton SO 2 or NO 2 , which is 24.88 times the pollutant discharge fee but which better reflects the pollutant shadow price.

Suggested Citation

  • Xindi Xu & Qinyun Wang & Haichao Hu & Xinjun Wang, 2021. "Air Pollution Control: An Analysis of China’s Industrial Off-Peak Production Policy through the Quasi-Natural Experiment Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-18, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:9:p:4808-:d:543069
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    Cited by:

    1. Na Zhang & Haiyan Wang & Baohua Yang & Muyuan Wu, 2023. "Evolutionary Game Mechanism of Governmental Cross-Regional Cooperation in AirPollution Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Xiaojing Jia & Xin Luo, 2023. "Residents’ Health Effect of Environmental Regulations in Coal-Dependent Industries: Empirical Evidence from China’s Cement Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Ana María Castañón & Lluís Sanmiquel & Marc Bascompta & Antonio Vega y de la Fuente & Víctor Contreras & Fernando Gómez-Fernández, 2021. "Used Tires as Fuel in Clinker Production: Economic and Environmental Implications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-13, September.

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