Can regional joint prevention and control of atmospheric reduce border pollution? Evidence from China's 12th Five-Year Plan on air pollution

Abstract

Border pollution is usually a difficult problem in environmental governance. Based on the data at the county level in China from 2005 to 2019, this study takes the 12th Five-Year Plan (FYP) for atmospheric pollution as a policy shock, and uses the difference-in-differences (DID) method to explore the impact of regional joint prevention and control (JPC) of atmospheric pollution policy on air pollution of the border regions. Empirical results show that: (1) After implementing the JPC of atmospheric pollution policy, the PM_2.5 concentration in the border regions is reduced by 3.5%. (2) The mechanism analysis shows that there is a spillover effect in the governing behaviors of local governments. In the border areas under low economic growth pressure and high environmental protection pressure, the reduction effect of the JPC of atmospheric pollution policy is more significant on the PM_2.5 concentration of the border regions. The research conclusions have new insights into the role and effect of macro-regional environmental JPC policy and border pollution control, and provide practical guidance for social green governance.

Keywords: 12th five-year plan on air pollution; Border pollution; Difference-in-differences method; Joint prevention and control.