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Relationship between Air Pollutants and Economic Development of the Provincial Capital Cities in China during the Past Decade

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  • Yunpeng Luo
  • Huai Chen
  • Qiu'an Zhu
  • Changhui Peng
  • Gang Yang
  • Yanzheng Yang
  • Yao Zhang

Abstract

With the economic development of China, air pollutants are also growing rapidly in recent decades, especially in big cities of the country. To understand the relationship between economic condition and air pollutants in big cities, we analysed the socioeconomic indictorssuch as Gross Regional Product per capita (GRP per capita), the concentration of air pollutants (PM10, SO2, NO2) and the air pollution index (API) from 2003 to 2012 in 31 provincial capitals of mainland China. The three main industries had a quadratic correlation with NO2, but a negative relationship with PM10 and SO2. The concentration of air pollutants per ten thousand yuan decreased with the multiplying of GRP in the provinical cities. The concentration of air pollutants and API in the provincial capital cities showed a declining trend or inverted-U trend with the rise of GRP per capita, which provided a strong evidence for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), that the environmental quality first declines, then improves, with the income growth. The results of this research improved our understanding of the alteration of atmospheric quality with the increase of social economy and demonstrated the feasibility of sustainable development for China.

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  • Yunpeng Luo & Huai Chen & Qiu'an Zhu & Changhui Peng & Gang Yang & Yanzheng Yang & Yao Zhang, 2014. "Relationship between Air Pollutants and Economic Development of the Provincial Capital Cities in China during the Past Decade," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(8), pages 1-14, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0104013
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104013
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    8. Daxin Dong & Boyang Xu & Ning Shen & Qian He, 2021. "The Adverse Impact of Air Pollution on China’s Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-27, August.
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    10. Azad Haider & Muhammad Iftikhar ul Husnain & Wimal Rankaduwa & Farzana Shaheen, 2021. "Nexus between Nitrous Oxide Emissions and Agricultural Land Use in Agrarian Economy: An ARDL Bounds Testing Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, March.
    11. Louis Sevitnenyi Nkwatoh, 2022. "Zero-pollution effect and economic development: standard and nested environmental Kuznets curve analyses for West Africa," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(10), pages 11895-11910, October.
    12. Akinbode Damilola Olatunde & Ogunleye, Edward Oladipo, 2022. "Determinants of Environmental Pollution in Sub-Sahara Africa," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(3), pages 631-642, March.
    13. 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.
    14. Yan Zhu & Hongfeng Zhang & Xu He, 2023. "Impact of New and Old Driving Force Conversion on Air Quality: Empirical Analysis Based on RDD," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-12, February.
    15. Fujii, Hidemichi & Iwata, Kazuyuki & Chapman, Andrew & Kagawa, Shigemi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "An analysis of urban environmental Kuznets curve of CO2 emissions: Empirical analysis of 276 global metropolitan areas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1561-1568.
    16. D. Jingyuan I. & L. Chong I. & L. Marsiliani & D. Jingyuan I. & L. Chong I. & L. Marsiliani, 2018. "Взаимосвязь между экономическим ростом и окружающей средой в Пекине на основе показателя PM2.5 // The Relationship between Growth and the Environment in Beijing, Using PM2.5 Concentrations," Review of Business and Economics Studies // Review of Business and Economics Studies, Финансовый Университет // Financial University, vol. 6(2), pages 5-18.
    17. Tao Zhang & Yung-ho Chiu & Ying Li & Tai-Yu Lin, 2018. "Air Pollutant and Health-Efficiency Evaluation Based on a Dynamic Network Data Envelopment Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, September.

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