Import competition and pollution abatement: Firm-level evidence from China

Qiyangfan Feng and Hao Wei

The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, 2026, vol. 35, issue 2, 409-434

Abstract: The relationship between international trade and environmental has garnered considerable attention. However, research on developing economies’ experiences remains scant. This paper investigates the impact of import competition on pollution emissions of firms in China, the largest developing country, utilizing micro-firm survey data from 2000 to 2012. Our study reveals that import competition significantly curtails firms’ SO2 emission intensity. The employment of DID and 2SLS strategies corroborates the robustness of our results. Furthermore, we find that import competition bolsters firms’ technical efficiency, leads to alterations in product mix and industry features, and improved pollution treatment efficiency, culminating in diminished pollution intensity. However, there is no evidence that import competition has encouraged firms to prioritize green innovation and the use of clean energy. We also introduce a novel approach to identify ‘pollution leakage effects’. When this effect is taken into account, the pollution abatement effect of import competition still exists.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09638199.2024.2443400 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:jitecd:v:35:y:2026:i:2:p:409-434

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RJTE20

DOI: 10.1080/09638199.2024.2443400

Access Statistics for this article

The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development is currently edited by Pasquale Sgro, David E.A. Giles and Charles van Marrewijk

More articles in The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().