IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i21p15309-d1267738.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Grassroots Governments’ Environmental Attention Effectively Improve Air Pollution? Empirical Evidence from Satellite Remote Sensing Technology

Author

Listed:
  • Kai Lin

    (School of Business, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250358, China)

  • Yanli Shi

    (School of Business, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250358, China)

  • Hong Xu

    (School of Business, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250358, China)

Abstract

Air pollution poses a global challenge, prompting governments worldwide to implement environmental policies aimed at its mitigation. However, grassroots management is key to the effectiveness of pollution management. Traditional air monitoring, ranging from a specific point to broader areas, has inherent limitations. In contrast, satellite remote sensing technology offers extensive spatial and temporal coverage, enabling real-time monitoring of data transmission. Can the amalgamation of grassroots governance and satellite remote sensing technology significantly enhance air pollution control? This article leverages satellite remote sensing data and county-level economic and social data from China spanning the period 2008 to 2019 to empirically explore the impact and mechanism of government environmental constraints on air pollution in grassroots areas. The following results were found: (1) Grassroots government environmental constraints exert a significant inhibitory effect on air pollution, and this conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests. (2) Mechanism tests reveal that grassroots government environmental constraints reduce county-level air pollution by fostering urbanization, enhancing industrial structures, and promoting innovation in green technologies. (3) There exists heterogeneity in the inhibitory effect of grassroots environmental constraints on air pollution, with a more pronounced impact in areas focusing on environmental protection, facing no economic constraints, large-scale, and located in central and western regions. The green governance awareness of a higher-level government shows an interaction effect on the reduction in environmental constraints at the grassroots government level, collectively contributing to the decrease in regional air pollution. The conclusion of this article underscores the vital role of satellite remote sensing technology in pollution control and provides insights into the direction of environmental regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Kai Lin & Yanli Shi & Hong Xu, 2023. "Can Grassroots Governments’ Environmental Attention Effectively Improve Air Pollution? Empirical Evidence from Satellite Remote Sensing Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:21:p:15309-:d:1267738
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/21/15309/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/21/15309/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph S. Shapiro & Reed Walker, 2018. "Why Is Pollution from US Manufacturing Declining? The Roles of Environmental Regulation, Productivity, and Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(12), pages 3814-3854, December.
    2. Chen, Yvonne Jie & Li, Pei & Lu, Yi, 2018. "Career concerns and multitasking local bureaucrats: Evidence of a target-based performance evaluation system in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 84-101.
    3. Cai, Xiqian & Lu, Yi & Wu, Mingqin & Yu, Linhui, 2016. "Does environmental regulation drive away inbound foreign direct investment? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 73-85.
    4. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Misato Sato, 2017. "The Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Competitiveness," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(2), pages 183-206.
    5. Valerie J. Karplus & Junjie Zhang & Jinhua Zhao, 2021. "Navigating and Evaluating the Labyrinth of Environmental Regulation in China," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 300-322.
    6. Shihe Fu & V Brian Viard & Peng Zhang, 2021. "Air Pollution and Manufacturing Firm Productivity: Nationwide Estimates for China [Management and shocks to worker productivity]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3241-3273.
    7. Chen, Zhao & Kahn, Matthew E. & Liu, Yu & Wang, Zhi, 2018. "The consequences of spatially differentiated water pollution regulation in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 468-485.
    8. Shiyue Zhang & Alan R. Collins & Xiaoli L. Etienne & Rijia Ding, 2021. "The Environmental Effects of International Trade in China: Measuring the Mediating Effects of Technology Spillovers of Import Trade on Industrial Air Pollution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-25, June.
    9. Guojun He & Shaoda Wang & Bing Zhang, 2020. "Watering Down Environmental Regulation in China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2135-2185.
    10. Ye, Bing & Lin, Ling, 2020. "Environmental regulation and responses of local governments," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    11. W. Walker Hanlon, 2016. "Coal Smoke and the Costs of the Industrial Revolution," NBER Working Papers 22921, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Han, Chao & Li, Chongyu & Pei, Jiansuo & Wang, Chunhua, 2024. "Environmental regulation and intermediate imports: Firm-product-level evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Dong, Yan & Tian, Jinhuan & Wen, Qiang, 2022. "Environmental regulation and outward foreign direct investment: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Mao, Jie & Wang, Chunhua & Yin, Haitao, 2023. "Corporate responses to air quality regulation: Evidence from a regional environmental policy in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Xie, Rui & Zhang, Jiahuan & Tang, Chuan, 2023. "Political connection and water pollution: New evidence from Chinese listed firms," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Li, Shuo & Wang, Min, 2022. "Environmental Regulation and Firms’ Extensive Margin Decisions," EfD Discussion Paper 22-15, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.
    6. Yan, Zheming & Yu, Ying & Du, Kerui & Zhang, Ning, 2024. "How does environmental regulation promote green technology innovation? Evidence from China's total emission control policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    7. Du, Kerui & Liu, Xueyue & Zhao, Cheng, 2023. "Environmental regulation mitigates energy rebound effect," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Li, Zhen & Wu, Baijun & Wang, Danyang & Tang, Maogang, 2022. "Government mandatory energy-biased technological progress and enterprises' environmental performance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of cleaner production standards in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    9. Shiyu Bo, 2021. "Environmental Regulations, Political Incentives and Local Economic Activities: Evidence from China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(3), pages 812-835, June.
    10. Guan, Jin & He, Dongwei & Zhu, Qigui, 2022. "More incentive, less pollution: The influence of official appraisal system reform on environmental enforcement," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    11. Yong Geng & Wei Liu & Hanshu Chen & Xinyu Zou, 2023. "The Spillover Effects of Environmental Regulations: A Perspective of Chinese Unregulated Firms' Tax Burden," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 31(2), pages 84-111, March.
    12. Shuai Chen & Chen Ji & Songqing Jin, 2022. "Costs of an environmental regulation in livestock farming: Evidence from pig production in rural China," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 541-563, June.
    13. Hongshan Ai & Xiaoqing Tan & Zhen Xia, 2022. "RETRACTED: The Effects of Environmental Regulations on Medical Expenses: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-17, June.
    14. Chen, Xinmin & Huang, Yuhong & Gao, Yajia, 2024. "Can urban low-carbon transitions promote enterprise digital transformation?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    15. 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.
    16. Liu, Donghua & Ren, Shenggang & Li, Wenming, 2022. "SO2 emissions trading and firm exports in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    17. Ai, Hongshan & Tan, Xiaoqing & Zhou, Shengwen & Zhou, Yuhan & Xing, Hongye, 2023. "The impact of environmental regulation on carbon emissions: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1067-1079.
    18. Zhang, Ming & Zhao, Yingxue, 2023. "Does environmental regulation spur innovation? Quasi-natural experiment in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    19. Xiaoyun Wei & Chuanmin Zhao, 2024. "Does Chinese Environmental Policy Affect Income Inequality? Evidence from the Central Environmental Protection Inspection," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 32(3), pages 130-161, May.
    20. Wang, Huanhuan & Xiong, Jiaxin, 2022. "Governance on water pollution: Evidence from a new river regulatory system of China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:21:p:15309-:d:1267738. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.