Effects of environmental policy on public risk perceptions of haze in Tianjin City: A difference-in-differences analysis

Lingling Wang and Tsunemi Watanabe

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2019, vol. 109, issue C, 199-212

Abstract: In 2017, China enacted its “most stringent command-and-control” directive for regulating air pollution in major Chinese cities as part of the initiative to achieve the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan established by the government. This study explored the directive's effects on the public's risk perceptions of haze in the country. Specifically, we identified public views regarding haze-related risks, the factors that influence their perceptions, and the changes in such perceptions by administering questionnaires to residents of implementation and non-implementation areas in Tianjin City before and after six months–regulation application in the metropolis. The panel data obtained from the survey were then subjected to difference-in-differences analysis. Surprisingly, the analysis showed that the directive significantly reduced the public's perceptions of risk, even when we controlled for factors related to knowledge, attitudes, health conditions, and expectations from government governance of air pollution. This finding suggested that the evaluation of other control measures that prohibit all construction-related activities during winter and the subsequent formulation of optimal solution and clarification as to what constitutes sustainable energy usage. The external costs of such use should be considered in policy making.

Keywords: Policy effect; Risk perception; Haze; Environmental sustainability; Difference-in-differences; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032119302291
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:rensus:v:109:y:2019:i:c:p:199-212

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.04.017

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().