A Spatial Panel Data Analysis of Economic Growth, Urbanization, and NO x Emissions in China

Xiangyu Ge, Zhimin Zhou, Yanli Zhou, Xinyue Ye and Songlin Liu
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Xiangyu Ge: School of Statistics and Mathematics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Zhimin Zhou: School of Statistics and Mathematics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Yanli Zhou: School of Finance, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Xinyue Ye: Computational Social Science Laboratory, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44240, USA
Songlin Liu: Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: Is nitrogen oxides emissions spatially correlated in a Chinese context? What is the relationship between nitrogen oxides emission levels and fast-growing economy/urbanization? More importantly, what environmental preservation and economic developing policies should China’s central and local governments take to mitigate the overall nitrogen oxides emissions and prevent severe air pollution at the provincial level in specific locations and their neighboring areas? The present study aims to tackle these issues. This is the first research that simultaneously studies the nexus between nitrogen oxides emissions and economic development/urbanization, with the application of a spatial panel data technique. Our empirical findings suggest that spatial dependence of nitrogen oxides emissions distribution exists at the provincial level. Through the investigation of the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) embedded within the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) framework, we conclude something interesting: an inverse N-shaped EKC describes both the income-nitrogen oxides nexus and the urbanization-nitrogen oxides nexus. Some well-directed policy advice is provided to reduce nitrogen oxides in the future. Moreover, these results contribute to the literature on development and pollution.

Keywords: nitrogen oxides emissions; urbanization; sustainable development; EKC; spatial effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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