Evidence on the Impact of Winter Heating Policy on Air Pollution and Its Dynamic Changes in North China

Shulin Wang, Yongtao Li and Mahfuzul Haque
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Shulin Wang: Sun Wah International Business School, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, China
Yongtao Li: Research Center for the Economies and Politics of Transitional Countries, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, China
Mahfuzul Haque: Department of AFIRM, Scott College of Business, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN 47809, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: Environmental pollution, especially air pollution, is an alarming issue for the public, which is extensively debated among academic scholars. During the winter heating season, “smog” has become somewhat a normal phenomenon to local residents’ livelihood in northern China. Based on the daily air pollution data of regional cities in China from 2014 to 2016, and using a regression discontinuity design (RDD), the study finds that winter heating makes the air quality worse in the northern part of China. With the start of the winter heating, it increases the Air Quality Index (AQI) by 10.4%, particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) by 9.77%, particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) by 17.25%, CO by 9.84%, NO 2 by 5.23%, and SO 2 by 17.1%. Furthermore, dynamic changes demonstrate that air quality has gradually improved due to a series of heating policy changes implemented by the central government in recent years. Specifically, from 2014 to 2016, major indicators measuring the air pollution decrease dramatically, such as AQI by 92.36%, PM10 by 91.24%, PM2.5 by 84.06%, CO by 70.97%, NO 2 by 52.76%, and SO 2 by 17.15%.

Keywords: winter heating policy; air pollution; RDD analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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