Can the Process of Evaluation and Recognition Effectively Promote Water Conservation in Cities? Evidence from China

Yongyou Nie and Yuanhao Man ()
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Yongyou Nie: School of Economics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Yuanhao Man: School of Economics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-19

Abstract: Water-saving construction is a crucial technique for China to address water resource scarcity and tackle the water-use issues. Can evaluation and recognition result in urban water-saving construction, and can it produce a more effective water-saving effect with the help of smart city construction? Based on the unbalanced panel data of prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019, this paper empirically discusses the impact of China’s National Water-saving City Selection on urban water conservation by using the multi-time point difference-in-differences method, and on this basis, it includes the consideration of smart city construction, so as to investigate the strengthening role of urban digital management in urban water-saving construction. The findings show the following: (1) the National Water-saving City Selection has significantly improved water conservation in the evaluated cities, and it has contributed to the positive effect via direct and indirect channels. (2) The water-saving effect generated by the policy varies with the total urban water supply or the number of people with a higher education in the city. (3) The implementation of the smart city pilot policy has significantly strengthened the city’s existing water-saving construction, and a further mechanism analysis shows that it not only strengthens the existing direct impact channels but also compensates for past construction shortcomings.

Keywords: evaluation and recognition; water-saving construction; smart city; multiple-time point difference-in-differences method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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