Exploring PM2.5 Environmental Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors in China

Dongdong Ma, Guifang Li and Feng He
Additional contact information
Dongdong Ma: School of Economics, Henan University of Economics and Law, Zhengzhou 450046, China
Guifang Li: Institute of Economics and Management, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
Feng He: School of Economics and Management, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 22, 1-15

Abstract: In China, air pollution, especially fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution, has become increasingly serious with the rapid economic growth that has occurred over the past 40 years. This paper aims to introduce PM2.5 pollution as a constraint in the environmental efficiency research framework through the use of panel data covering the Chinese provinces from 2001–2018. PM2.5 environmental efficiency is measured with the slack-based measure (SBM)-Undesirable-variable returns-to-scale (VRS) model, and the results show that the average PM2.5 environmental efficiency score is 0.702, which indicates inefficiency, and is U-shaped over time. The PM2.5 environmental efficiency scores are unbalanced across the eight regions and 30 provinces of China. Additionally, the relationship between PM2.5 environmental efficiency and its influencing factors is examined with a tobit model, and the empirical findings indicate that the relationship between economic development and PM2.5 environmental efficiency is an inverted U, which is the opposite of the traditional environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). In addition, technological innovation, trade dependency, and regional development each have a significantly positive effect on PM2.5 environmental efficiency. However, environmental regulations, the industrial structure, and population density have significantly negative effects on PM2.5 environmental efficiency. Finally, this paper fails to prove that foreign direct investment (FDI) has created a PM2.5 “pollution haven” in China.

Keywords: PM2.5 pollution; environmental efficiency; SBM-Undesirable-VRS model; environmental regulations; environmental Kuznets curve; pollution haven (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/12218/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/12218/ (text/html)

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:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:22:p:12218-:d:684175

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().