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Did Olympic Games improve air quality in Beijing? Based on the synthetic control method

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  • Jun Zhang
  • Chunping Zhong
  • Ming Yi

Abstract

During preparations for the Olympic Games, Beijing issued a series of environmental policies to increase environmental governance. Using Synthetic Control Method, which appeared in a comparative case study recently, we estimated the impact of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on Beijing’s air quality in this paper. The results show that Beijing’s air quality significantly improved after 2008; average annual air pollution days reduced by 25 days, and the result is significant on the level of 3.2 %. But after 2010, these effects disappeared gradually. Furthermore, considering winter is the most polluted season of Beijing, this paper further examined the impact of these environmental policies on the air quality in winter. We find that after the Olympics, the improvement of air quality in Beijing mainly occurred in other seasons, winter air quality did not significantly improve. Copyright Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies and Springer Japan 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Jun Zhang & Chunping Zhong & Ming Yi, 2016. "Did Olympic Games improve air quality in Beijing? Based on the synthetic control method," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 18(1), pages 21-39, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:envpol:v:18:y:2016:i:1:p:21-39
    DOI: 10.1007/s10018-015-0109-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lucas W. Davis, 2008. "The Effect of Driving Restrictions on Air Quality in Mexico City," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(1), pages 38-81, February.
    2. Chen, Yuyu & Jin, Ginger Zhe & Kumar, Naresh & Shi, Guang, 2013. "The promise of Beijing: Evaluating the impact of the 2008 Olympic Games on air quality," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 424-443.
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    6. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    7. 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.
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Cheng & Zhou, Xinxin & Zhou, Bo & Zhao, Ziwei, 2022. "Impacts of a mega sporting event on local carbon emissions: A case of the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. David Powell, 2016. "Synthetic Control Estimation Beyond Case Studies Does the Minimum Wage Reduce Employment?," Working Papers WR-1142, RAND Corporation.
    3. Li Wang & Fengying Zhang & Eva Pilot & Jie Yu & Chengjing Nie & Jennifer Holdaway & Linsheng Yang & Yonghua Li & Wuyi Wang & Sotiris Vardoulakis & Thomas Krafft, 2018. "Taking Action on Air Pollution Control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) Region: Progress, Challenges and Opportunities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-27, February.
    4. Valeriia Budiakivska & Luca Casolaro, 2018. "Please in my back yard: the private and public benefits of a new tram line in Florence," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1161, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Regulation; Air Quality; Beijing Olympic Games; D0; Q53; Q58;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D0 - Microeconomics - - General
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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