IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i5p1670-d328309.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Agglomeration of Manufacturing Industry, Innovation and Haze Pollution in China: Theory and Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Zhidong Liu

    (School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Yang Cai

    (School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Xiaojing Hao

    (School of Public Finance and Tax, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

Abstract

Haze pollution in China is a serious environmental issue, which does harm both to people’s health and to economic development. Simultaneously, as an important industrial development law, agglomeration may result in the increased concentration of manufacturing firms and, consequently, an increase in haze pollution. However, the positive externalities of agglomeration can also improve the efficiency of regional innovation, which curbs haze pollution. In this paper, we construct both theoretical and empirical models to investigate the effects of industrial manufacturing agglomeration on haze pollution. The results reveal the following: (1) By incorporating the effect of agglomeration and haze pollution into a general endogenous growth model, we show an inverted-U relationship between agglomeration and haze pollution on the balance growth path. (2) Based on data concerning haze pollution (PM 2.5 ) and data from 285 Chinese cities, the empirical results verify the findings of the theoretical model. Further, we calculated the values of agglomeration variables, with respect to the inflection points of the inverted-U, which the cities need to reach in order to gain the specific agglomeration values required to enjoy the inhibition effect of agglomeration on haze pollution. (3) A heterogeneity analysis shows that the inverted-U relationship is more obvious among the cities in the middle and northeastern areas of China, as well as medium-size cities. (4) Cities’ environmental regulation policies and high-quality institutional environments can restrain the positive effect of agglomeration on haze pollution. (5) Using three measures of innovation, it is also empirically found that innovation is the mechanism (mediator) between agglomeration and haze pollution.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhidong Liu & Yang Cai & Xiaojing Hao, 2020. "The Agglomeration of Manufacturing Industry, Innovation and Haze Pollution in China: Theory and Evidence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-28, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:5:p:1670-:d:328309
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1670/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1670/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Greenstone & Rema Hanna, 2014. "Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3038-3072, October.
    2. Jalil, Abdul & Feridun, Mete, 2011. "The impact of growth, energy and financial development on the environment in China: A cointegration analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 284-291, March.
    3. Lin, Boqiang & Zhu, Junpeng, 2019. "Fiscal spending and green economic growth: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 264-271.
    4. Fève, Patrick & Moura, Alban & Pierrard, Olivier, 2019. "Shadow banking and financial regulation: A small-scale DSGE perspective," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 130-144.
    5. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    6. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    7. Michael Greenstone & Richard Hornbeck & Enrico Moretti, 2010. "Identifying Agglomeration Spillovers: Evidence from Winners and Losers of Large Plant Openings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(3), pages 536-598, June.
    8. Avraham Ebenstein & Maoyong Fan & Michael Greenstone & Guojun He & Peng Yin & Maigeng Zhou, 2015. "Growth, Pollution, and Life Expectancy: China from 1991-2012," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 226-231, May.
    9. Thomas J. Chemmanur & Elena Loutskina & Xuan Tian, 2014. "Corporate Venture Capital, Value Creation, and Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(8), pages 2434-2473.
    10. Hering, Laura & Poncet, Sandra, 2014. "Environmental policy and exports: Evidence from Chinese cities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 296-318.
    11. Pierre-André Jouvet & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2010. "Longevity and environmental quality in an OLG model," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 100(3), pages 191-216, July.
    12. Renfeng Ma & Congcong Wang & Yixia Jin & Xiaojing Zhou, 2019. "Estimating the Effects of Economic Agglomeration on Haze Pollution in Yangtze River Delta China Using an Econometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, March.
    13. Allison J. Sovey & Donald P. Green, 2011. "Instrumental Variables Estimation in Political Science: A Readers’ Guide," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 188-200, January.
    14. Fujita,Masahisa & Thisse,Jacques-François, 2013. "Economics of Agglomeration," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107001411.
    15. Amore, Mario Daniele & Schneider, Cédric & Žaldokas, Alminas, 2013. "Credit supply and corporate innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 835-855.
    16. Lionel Fontagné & Gianluca Santoni, 2019. "Agglomeration economies and firm-level labor misallocation," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 251-272.
    17. Gaigné, Carl & Zenou, Yves, 2015. "Agglomeration, city size and crime," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 62-82.
    18. Yixiao Zhou, 2014. "Role of Institutional Quality in Determining the R&D Investment of Chinese Firms," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(4), pages 60-82, July.
    19. Qingyu Fan & Shan Yang & Shuaibin Liu, 2019. "Asymmetrically Spatial Effects of Urban Scale and Agglomeration on Haze Pollution in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-18, December.
    20. Neng Shen & Yuqing Zhao & Qunwei Wang, 2018. "Diversified Agglomeration, Specialized Agglomeration, and Emission Reduction Effect—A Nonlinear Test Based on Chinese City Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, June.
    21. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1986. "Technology Adoption in the Presence of Network Externalities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 822-841, August.
    22. Chen, Ling & Yang, Wenhui, 2019. "R&D tax credits and firm innovation: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 233-241.
    23. Jun Liu & Yuhui Zhao & Zhonghua Cheng & Huiming Zhang, 2018. "The Effect of Manufacturing Agglomeration on Haze Pollution in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-15, November.
    24. Cong Minh Huynh & Hong Hiep Hoang, 2019. "Foreign direct investment and air pollution in Asian countries: does institutional quality matter?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(17), pages 1388-1392, October.
    25. Wang, Yuan & Han, Rong & Kubota, Jumpei, 2016. "Is there an Environmental Kuznets Curve for SO2 emissions? A semi-parametric panel data analysis for China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1182-1188.
    26. Hodgson, Charles, 2018. "The effect of transport infrastructure on the location of economic activity: Railroads and post offices in the American West," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 59-76.
    27. Roberta Capello, 1999. "Spatial Transfer of Knowledge in High Technology Milieux: Learning Versus Collective Learning Processes," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 353-365.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mengxin Wang & Gaoke Liao & Yanling Li, 2021. "The Relationship between Environmental Regulation, Pollution and Corporate Environmental Responsibility," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-13, July.
    2. Shaohong Mu & Weixiu Li & Muhammad Mohiuddin, 2022. "The Impact of Low-Carbon City (LCC) on Elderly People’s Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Mei Song & Yujin Gao & Furong Dong & Yunan Feng, 2023. "Research on the Spatial Spillover Effect of Industrial Agglomeration on the Economic Growth in the Yellow River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, February.
    4. Zhenhua Zhang & Guoxing Zhang & Shunfeng Song & Bin Su, 2020. "Spatial Heterogeneity Influences of Environmental Control and Informal Regulation on Air Pollutant Emissions in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-22, July.

    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. Rongwu Zhang & Wenqiang Fu & Yingxu Kuang, 2022. "Can Digital Economy Promote Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction in Heavily Polluting Enterprises? Empirical Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-21, August.
    2. Dugan, Anna & Prskawetz, Alexia & Raffin, Natacha, 2022. "The Environment, Life Expectancy and Growth in Overlapping Generations Models: A Survey," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 01/2022, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.
    3. Yunling Ye & Sheng Ye & Haichao Yu, 2021. "Can Industrial Collaborative Agglomeration Reduce Haze Pollution? City-Level Empirical Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Chen, Dengke & Chen, Shiyi, 2017. "Particulate air pollution and real estate valuation: Evidence from 286 Chinese prefecture-level cities over 2004–2013," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 884-897.
    5. Mathilde Maurel & Thomas Pernet-Coudrier, 2020. "New Evidence on the Soft Budget Constraint: Chinese Environmental Policy Effectiveness in Private versus SOEs," Post-Print halshs-02469382, HAL.
    6. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2020. "The Economics of Urban Density," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 3-26, Summer.
    7. Roberta Capello, 2008. "Regional economics in its 1950s: recent theoretical directions and future challenges," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 42(4), pages 747-767, December.
    8. Dongmin Kong & Mengxu Xiong & Ni Qin, 2023. "Tax incentives and firm pollution," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(3), pages 784-813, June.
    9. Xiang, Yitian & Cui, Haotian & Bi, Yunxiao, 2023. "The impact and channel effects of banking competition and government intervention on carbon emissions: Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    10. Stuart S. Rosenthal & William C. Strange, 2020. "How Close Is Close? The Spatial Reach of Agglomeration Economies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 27-49, Summer.
    11. Robbiano, Simone, 2021. "The innovative impact of public research institutes: evidence from Italy," MPRA Paper 106386, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Wanfang Xiong & Yan Han & M. James C. Crabbe & Xiao-Guang Yue, 2020. "Fiscal Expenditures on Science and Technology and Environmental Pollution: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-20, November.
    13. Jihuan Zhang, 2021. "Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis on CO 2 Emissions: Evidence for China," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-16, February.
    14. Matilde Bombardini & Bingjing Li, 2016. "Trade, Pollution and Mortality in China," NBER Working Papers 22804, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Bombardini, Matilde & Li, Bingjing, 2020. "Trade, pollution and mortality in China," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    16. Ron A. Boschma & Koen Frenken, 2006. "Why is economic geography not an evolutionary science? Towards an evolutionary economic geography," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 273-302, June.
    17. Liu, Yongzheng & Zhang, Xiaoge, 2023. "Environmental regulation, political incentives, and mortality in China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    18. Gao, Ting, 2004. "Regional industrial growth: evidence from Chinese industries," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 101-124, January.
    19. Bloom, Nicholas & Hassan, Tarek Alexander & Kalyani, Aakash & Lerner, Josh & Tahoun, Ahmed, 2021. "The diffusion of disruptive technologies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113870, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Bahar, Dany & Rosenow, Samuel & Stein, Ernesto & Wagner, Rodrigo, 2019. "Export take-offs and acceleration: Unpacking cross-sector linkages in the evolution of comparative advantage," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 48-60.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:5:p:1670-:d:328309. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.