Do Environmental Regulations Affect Air Quality and SO2 Emissions?

Abstract

This chapter investigates the role of environmental regulations in pollution reduction. Based on the trios of scale-composition-technique decomposition, this chapter explores how environmental regulation affects pollution reduction via these effects. On this basis, it further compares the effects of different environmental regulations in China. Empirical findings suggest that environmental regulations are crucial for pollution reduction. Compared with other determinants, such as technological development, increasing scales, and intergovernmental competition, environmental regulation plays one of the most important roles. However, a strict regulation in one place is also likely to increase pollution in the surrounding areas. In the case of China, both the command-and-control regulation and the market-oriented regulation contribute to pollution reduction. They primarily restrict the scale effects and promote the technique effects. However, the market-oriented mode of regulation has more sustained effects than the command-and-control ones.