Abstract
China has been suffering from serious air pollution for years due to rapid industrialization. However, the relationship between China’s air pollution and pollution control schemes remains understudied in the Chinese air pollution literature. Using the Environmental Theory Model, this paper studies the relationship between air pollution and control investment in China for the period 2005–2014 and applies the inverse distance weighted interpolation (IDW) and Pearson correlation methods. As a result, this paper puts forward some policy suggestions for the governance of air pollution in China. The results are as follows: (1) The Pearson correlation coefficient between China’s air pollution index (API) and control investment is 0.466 (p < 0.01). This shows that the phenomenon of ‘Treatment after Pollution’ still exists in China’s economy; (2) there is an inverted U-shaped relationship that is in accordance with the environmental Kuznets curve between China’s air pollution control investment and air pollution; (3) the high-effectiveness of governmental air pollution control is reflected in the 2013–2014 period, where the API of year 2014 decreased by 10.45 from 2013. This shows a one-year lag between exposure to air pollution and the start of control investment. Future research is warranted to concentrate on establishing a model of the relationship between air pollution and control investment or an air pollution risk assessment based on the proportional hazards model (COX) model.
Highlights
Air pollution can directly or indirectly affect human health, causing physical discomfort and leading to disease or even death
According to a previous literature review, the selection of environmental impact factors in this paper draws on the environmental theory model proposed by Dou [37], as shown in Equation (1): Eit = β0 + β1Yit + β2Sit + β3Tit + μit where E represents the environmental quality; Y represents per capita income (GDP per capita); S represents the industrial structure; T represents the adoption of environmental technologies; the subscripts i and t represent regions and years; and μ is the error term
To facilitate a comparison analysis, we mapped China’s air pollution control investment from 2005Ttoo f2a0c1i4litianteFiagucoremAp2a.rison analysis, we mapped China’s air pollution control investment from 2005 tForo2m01420in05Fitgou2r0e1A0,2t.he air pollution investment was high in north China and Inner Mongolia, and wFraosmlo2w00in5 Ntoo2r0th1e0r,nthXeinajiirapngo,llbuetcioanusienvtheestamireqnut awliatys ihnigNhoirnthneornrthXiCnhjiainnagaisndmIaninnleyraMffeocntgedolbiay, annadtuwraalselloewmeinntNs o(hrtihgehr-nfrXeqinujeianncgy,dbuecsat uwseeatthheera)ir[4q8u]a. lFitryomin N20o1r3t,htehren nXaintijoiannwgidiseminavinelsytmafefnecttoend baiyr pollution control increased significantly, which increased by 144% compared with 2012
Summary
Air pollution can directly or indirectly affect human health, causing physical discomfort and leading to disease or even death. Studies have shown that when the human body is exposed to highly polluted air for a long time, the mortality rate increases [1,2]. There have been frequent haze weather events in many places in China where the air quality was mostly between ‘moderate’ and ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’. Studies show that under such air conditions, the mortality rate from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and the prevalence of asthma and respiratory diseases both increase [4]. Haze days anomalies in the Eastern region lasted more than ten days [5]. During these years, China strengthened its air quality monitoring and enhanced its air pollution control. In 2013, the government spent three times more money on air pollution than it did in 2012, and this helped to reduce air pollution (air pollution index (API) value declined 10.45 from 2014 to 2013) [6]
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