Causality and dynamic spillover effects of megacities on regional industrial pollution reduction

Wei Wang; Haibo Wang; Jun Huang; Huijun Yang; Jiefang Li; Qinglan Liu; Zelang Wang

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14047

Causality and dynamic spillover effects of megacities on regional industrial pollution reduction

Heliyon. 2023 Mar 2;9(3):e14047. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14047. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Wei Wang¹, Haibo Wang², Jun Huang³, Huijun Yang¹, Jiefang Li⁴, Qinglan Liu⁵, Zelang Wang⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Economics and Management, Chang'an University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710064, China.
² A.R. Sanchez Jr. School of Business, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX, 78041, United States.
³ College of Business, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX, 76909, United States.
⁴ Department of Tourism Management, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510006, China.
⁵ Business School, The University of Sydney, Camperdown NSW 2006, Australia.
⁶ School of Marxism, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.

Abstract

Regional economic power and local environmental policies have a substantial impact on pollution reduction in urban agglomerations (UAs); however, whether megacities in UAs exert spillover effects of pollution reduction on surrounding cities remains unknown. This study presents a causal analytic framework to evaluate the spillover effects of megacities on regional industrial pollution reduction in three major UAs in China between 2005 and 2016. The interaction between industrial pollution reduction and infrastructure investment indicators was also examined. Results indicated a good fit for spatial spillover of sulfur dioxide reduction (SR) in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) but not in the Beijing-Hebei-Tianjin cluster (JJJ). Spatial spillover of dust reduction (DR) was evident in the PRD and JJJ but not the YRD. Spatial analysis showed that infrastructure investment indicators, at megacity and UA levels, had short-term spillover effects on surrounding cities for DR but not SR. However, spatial spillover effects, at both the city and UA levels, were substantial over the long term. In addition, the results of the spatial-time lag analysis suggest a linear relationship between pollution control-related infrastructure investment indicators and long-term pollution reduction. This study provides new information regarding the spatial spillover effects of megacities on regional industrial pollution reduction in UAs.

Keywords: Analysis of variance (ANOVA); Autoregressive-distributed lag test (ARDL); Industrial pollution reduction; Infrastructure investment; Spillover effect; Urban agglomeration.