The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Pesticide Use in China

Jing Hou, Xin Li, Yifei Tang, Bo Hou and Feiyu Chen ()
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Jing Hou: School of Business, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
Xin Li: School of Business, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
Yifei Tang: School of Business, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
Bo Hou: School of Philosophy and Public Administration, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
Feiyu Chen: School of Economics and Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-23

Abstract: Reducing pesticide use is of great significance for ensuring the quality and safety of agricultural products, as well as alleviating agricultural non-point source pollution. Exploring the mechanisms by which environmental regulation drives pesticide reduction under different scenarios can help improve policy effectiveness and promote the sustainable development of agriculture. Utilizing panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning the period of 2010 to 2023, this study empirically analyzed the impact of environmental regulation on pesticide use through a fixed-effect model and further explored the moderating role of agricultural economic scale in this process. Moreover, a heterogeneity analysis was conducted based on regional and environmental regulation dimensions, respectively. The findings reveal that, overall, there exists an inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and pesticide use, where it initially increases and then decreases. Agricultural economic scale, serving as a moderating variable, amplifies the promotional effect of environmental regulation on pesticide reduction and accelerates the attainment of the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve. Regional heterogeneity analyses reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and pesticide use in the eastern and central regions, while this relationship is not significant in the western region. Notably, market-based environmental regulation exhibits a more pronounced impact compared to command-and-control environmental regulation.

Keywords: environmental regulation; pesticide use; pesticide reduction; agricultural economic scale; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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