How does the urban-rural income gap affect regional environmental pollution?--Re-examination based on the experience of cities at prefecture level and above in China.

Abstract

Based on the traditional "EKC" theory, this paper examines the impact of urban-rural income disparity on environmental pollution in Chinese cities above the prefecture level from 2005 to 2015 using nonlinear models and spatial correlation models and tests the mechanism of action from two perspectives: demand scale and human capital. The results show that the urban-rural income gap has an obvious "inverted U-shaped" trend on environmental pollution. Both demand size and human capital are the main mechanisms affecting the environmental pollution effect of the urban-rural income gap, and the marginal pollution effects of both are "negative first and then positive" as the urban-rural income gap widens. The pollution effects of the urban-rural income gap are significantly spatially correlated at both the national and regional scales. The strength of environmental regulation is an important factor affecting the urban-rural income gap and has a significant "U-shaped" effect on regional pollution through the urban-rural income gap.