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The effect of border controls on waste imports: Evidence from China's Green Fence campaign

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  • Sun, Meng

Abstract

The international trade of waste has been an important and growing part of the global economy during the last two decades, which imposes regulatory challenges to governments in the South to protect the environment. This paper investigates the effect of border controls with a difference-in-difference design by exploiting a unique natural experiment, China's Operation Green Fence (OGF) implemented in 2013. We find that the OGF exerted a significant deterrent effect on the waste imported into China. Specifically, we find that the import weight of waste grew by 9.48 percentage less and the import price declined by 7.6 percentage more compared to those of the non-waste. The results are robust to a series of robustness checks, and there is no similar reaction in other regions, where the OGF was not initiated.

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  • Sun, Meng, 2019. "The effect of border controls on waste imports: Evidence from China's Green Fence campaign," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 457-472.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:54:y:2019:i:c:p:457-472
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2019.02.009
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jinsong Li & Kenji Takeuchi, 2023. "Import ban and clean air: estimating the effect of China’s waste import ban on ozone pollution," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 25(4), pages 471-492, October.
    3. Trang Tran & Hiromasa Goto & Takuma Matsuda, 2021. "The Impact of China’s Tightening Environmental Regulations on International Waste Trade and Logistics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, January.
    4. Lin, Chinho & Paengsri, Parinyakorn & Yang, Yiwen, 2023. "Impact of China’s National Sword Policy on waste import:A difference-in-differences approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 887-903.
    5. Liang Guo & W. D. Walls & Xiaoli Zheng, 2023. "Waste Import Bans and Environmental Quality: Evidence from China’s Electronic Waste Disposal Towns," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(1), pages 65-108, May.
    6. Na Song & Andrew Hursthouse & Iain Mclellan & Zhenghua Wang, 2022. "Decision Support Models for Site Remediation: An Evaluation of Industry Practice in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    7. Bowen Li & Yifei Mu, 2024. "Impact of China’s National Sword Policy on Waste Import Margins: A Difference-in-Differences Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-20, January.
    8. Bowen Li & Antonio Alleyne & Zhaoyong Zhang & Yifei Mu, 2021. "Sustainability and Waste Imports in China: Pollution Haven or Resources Hunting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-21, January.
    9. Keshav Parajuly & Colin Fitzpatrick, 2020. "Understanding the Impacts of Transboundary Waste Shipment Policies: The Case of Plastic and Electronic Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-14, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International trade of waste; China's Operation Green Fence; Difference-in-difference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F18 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Environment
    • F64 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Environment
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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