Where Emissions Travel: A Source–Receptor Approach to Evaluating Environmental Policy

Zichen Deng () and Runxi Niu ()
Additional contact information
Zichen Deng: Dept. of Economics, University of Amsterdam, Postal: University of Amsterdam, Department of Economics, Roetersstraat 11, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands, https://dengzc.github.io/
Runxi Niu: Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Postal: NHH, Department of Economics, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, Norway, https://www.nhh.no/en/employees/faculty/runxi-niu/

No 13/2026, Discussion Paper Series in Economics from Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics

Abstract: Pollution from regulated sources can cross administrative boundaries; consequently, jurisdiction-based treatment assignment may fail to accurately capture policy exposure at a given receptor. To address this, we construct a predetermined treatment intensity by combining regulatory assignment with pre-policy source characteristics and atmospheric source–receptor linkages, and use it in a continuous treatment difference-in-differences design. A formal framework and simulations clarify when cross-boundary transport attenuates jurisdiction-based comparisons and when the source–receptor design recovers policy effects. Applied to China’s Two Control Zones policy, both designs indicate post-policy reductions in local SO2 emissions. For SO2 dry deposition at receptors, the source–receptor estimate is negative and statistically significant, whereas the jurisdiction-based estimate is also negative but not statistically distinguishable from zero. The same exposure measure reveals declines in crop value per hectare in more exposed villages, which are less apparent in jurisdiction-based comparisons. Crop-specific response patterns are consistent with a sulfur-nutrient channel.

Keywords: spillovers; air pollution; atmospheric transport; source-receptor design; Two-Control Zones; agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 C23 O13 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 89 pages
Date: 2026-09-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-ene, nep-env and nep-res
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://nva.sikt.no/registration/01a0b37d3f05-3b07 ... 47-b70c-d71c11a56b13 Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2026_013

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Discussion Paper Series in Economics from Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics NHH, Department of Economics, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, Norway. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Synne Stormoen ().