IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ers/journl/vxxivy2021ispecial3p737-746.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The COVID-19 Pandemic Vs. the Economic Political Dimensions of the Problem of Air Pollution in Poland

Author

Listed:
  • Joanna Stryjek

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the article is (1) to investigate whether the short-term reductions of air pollution related to the COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in a significant improvement in air quality in Poland throughout 2020, and thus positively influenced the level of Poland’s compliance with the EU’s air quality directives, and (2) to analyze the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on air quality policy (AQ policy) in Poland. Design/Methodology/Approach: The air quality analysis is based on the 24-hour average concentration of particulate matter (PM10), i.e., the primary atmospheric pollutant in Poland, about the EU’s air quality standards. Data on surface concentrations of PM10 were retrieved from air quality monitoring stations of the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection. As regards the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on AQ policy in Poland, the analysis is conducted on a theoretical level, concerning: (1) the two-stage model of AQ policy development (Monks and Williams, 2020), (2) the theory of classification in policy-making (Rhinard, 2019), and (3) the research on the success and failure in public policies, tied to the theories of crisis management (McConnell, 2011). Findings: Research results show that the COVID-19 lockdowns positively impacted Poland's air quality in 2020, and it considerably improved the level of Poland’s compliance with the EU’s air quality standards. However, the unexpected (i.e., not exclusively related to air quality reforms) reduction of air pollution decreased the pressure to implement policy measures that could lead to a long-term air quality improvement. Practical Implications: Understanding how air pollution is affected by the restrictions on people's mobility and economic activity provides essential information for AQ policy development. Additionally, the article helps raise public awareness of poor air quality in Poland, which is also of great importance for AQ policy development. Originality/Value: This is the first study to investigate whether the short-term reductions of air pollution during the COVID-19 lockdowns helped Poland comply with the EU’s air quality directives.

Suggested Citation

  • Joanna Stryjek, 2021. "The COVID-19 Pandemic Vs. the Economic Political Dimensions of the Problem of Air Pollution in Poland," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 3), pages 737-746.
    • Handle: RePEc:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:special3:p:737-746
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ersj.eu/journal/2506/download
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guojun He & Yuhang Pan & Takanao Tanaka, 2020. "The short-term impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on urban air pollution in China," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 3(12), pages 1005-1011, December.
    2. Mark Rhinard, 2019. "The Crisisification of Policy‐making in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 616-633, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lee, Munseob & Finerman, Rachel, 2021. "COVID-19, commuting flows, and air quality," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Andrea Baranzini & Stefano Carattini & Linda Tesauro, 2021. "Designing Effective and Acceptable Road Pricing Schemes: Evidence from the Geneva Congestion Charge," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 79(3), pages 417-482, July.
    3. Matteo Böhm & Mirco Nanni & Luca Pappalardo, 2022. "Gross polluters and vehicle emissions reduction," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(8), pages 699-707, August.
    4. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Trinh, Trong-Anh, 2020. "Does the COVID-19 Pandemic Improve Global Air Quality? New Cross-national Evidence on Its Unintended Consequences," GLO Discussion Paper Series 606, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Brodeur, Abel & Cook, Nikolai & Wright, Taylor, 2021. "On the effects of COVID-19 safer-at-home policies on social distancing, car crashes and pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    6. Koch, Svea & Friesen, Ina & Keijzer, Niels, 2021. "EU development policy as a crisis-response tool? Prospects and challenges for linking the EU's COVID-19 response to the green transition," IDOS Discussion Papers 27/2021, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    7. Wu, Jianxin & Zhan, Xiaoling & Xu, Hui & Ma, Chunbo, 2023. "The economic impacts of COVID-19 and city lockdown: Early evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 151-165.
    8. Joanna Stryjek, 2021. "Counteracting the COVID-19 Crisis with Innovation Policy Tools: A Case Study of the EU’s Supranational Innovation Policy," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 450-468.
    9. Meina Zheng & Xiucheng Guo & Feng Liu & Jiayan Shen, 2021. "Contribution of Subway Expansions to Air Quality Improvement and the Corresponding Health Implications in Nanjing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Abdullah Addas & Ahmad Maghrabi, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Air Quality—A Global Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-31, September.
    11. Kyriakos Maniatis & David Chiaramonti & Eric van den Heuvel, 2021. "Post COVID-19 Recovery and 2050 Climate Change Targets: Changing the Emphasis from Promotion of Renewables to Mandated Curtailment of Fossil Fuels in the EU Policies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-44, March.
    12. Lynda Andeobu & Santoso Wibowo & Srimannarayana Grandhi, 2022. "Medical Waste from COVID-19 Pandemic—A Systematic Review of Management and Environmental Impacts in Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-25, January.
    13. Guo, Feng & Huang, Yiping & Wang, Jingyi & Wang, Xue, 2022. "The informal economy at times of COVID-19 pandemic," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    14. Yixuan Yang & Tongqian Zhao & Huazhe Jiao & Li Wu & Chunyan Xiao & Xiaoming Guo & Chao Jin, 2022. "Atmospheric Organic Nitrogen Deposition in Strategic Water Sources of China after COVID-19 Lockdown," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-14, February.
    15. He, Chao & Yang, Lu & Cai, Bofeng & Ruan, Qingyuan & Hong, Song & Wang, Zhen, 2021. "Impacts of the COVID-19 event on the NOx emissions of key polluting enterprises in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    16. Hai-Anh H. Dang & Trong-Anh Trinh, 2022. "The Beneficial Impacts of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Air Pollution: Evidence from Vietnam," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(10), pages 1917-1933, October.
    17. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Trinh, Trong-Anh, 2021. "Does the COVID-19 lockdown improve global air quality? New cross-national evidence on its unintended consequences," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    18. Chen, Joy & Cheng, Zijun & Gong, Robin Kaiji & Li, Jinlin, 2022. "Riding out the COVID-19 storm: How government policies affect SMEs in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Beom-Soon Han & Kyeongjoo Park & Kyung-Hwan Kwak & Seung-Bu Park & Han-Gyul Jin & Sungju Moon & Jong-Won Kim & Jong-Jin Baik, 2020. "Air Quality Change in Seoul, South Korea under COVID-19 Social Distancing: Focusing on PM 2.5," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-12, August.
    20. Ahn, Kunwon & Lee, Jun Yeong & Winters, John V., 2020. "Employment Opportunities and High School Completion during the COVID-19 Recession," IZA Discussion Papers 13802, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Air pollution; air quality policy; COVID-19; Poland.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • F5 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:special3:p:737-746. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Marios Agiomavritis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ersj.eu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.