The Spatial and Heterogeneity Impacts of Population Urbanization on Fine Particulate (PM2.5) in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China.

Weiwei Xie,Hongbing Deng,Zhaohui Chong

doi:10.3390/ijerph16061058

Abstract

This paper addresses the effect of population urbanization on Fine Particulate (PM2.5) in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China from 2006 to 2016 by employing PM2.5 remote sensing data and using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model. The study contributes to the growing empirical literature by addressing heterogeneity, spillover, and dynamic effects in the dynamic spatial panel modeling process simultaneously. The empirical results show that population urbanization has a significant impact on PM2.5 with a positive spillover effect and a dynamic effect being detected and controlled. The heterogeneity effects of population urbanization on PM2.5 due to geographical positions show evidence of an obvious inverted U-shaped curve relationship in the upstream area and an increasing function curve in the midstream and downstream areas. The heterogeneity effects due to population urbanization levels show that an inverted N-shape curve relationship exists in low and medium urbanization level areas, while a U-shape curve relationship exists in high urbanization level areas. It is hoped that this study will inform the local governments about the heterogeneity of population urbanization and spillover effects of air pollution when addressing air pollution control.

Highlights

During the past four decades, urbanization in China has increased rapidly from 17.92% in 1978 to 58.52% in 2017
The standardized daily value of PM2.5 in China is 75 μg/m3, meaning when the daily average concentration of PM2.5 higher than 75 μg/m3, the air quality reaches the level of pollution, which is three times that of the World Health Organization (WHO) standard (25 μg/m3 ) [3]
(2) To avoid possible estimation bias caused by spatial interaction effects and the dynamic effect, we address these two issues using a combination of a dynamic model and a spatial econometric specification

Summary

Introduction

During the past four decades, urbanization in China has increased rapidly from 17.92% in 1978 to 58.52% in 2017. This rapid urbanization is being accompanied by the agglomeration of the urban population, the utilization of urban land, and severe industrial emissions leading to high ambient air pollution [1,2]. Many extant studies refer to the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis analysis framework. In their classic work, Grossman and Krueger (1991) tested the EKC hypothesis and found that per capita income exhibits an inverted

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Discussion

Conclusion