IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i12p9754-d1174223.html

Whether the Establishment of National High-Tech Zones Can Improve Urban Air Pollution: Empirical Evidence from Prefecture-Level Cities in China

Author

Listed:
  • Deya Hua

    (School of Economics, Anhui University, Hefei 230022, China)

  • Jingfeng Hu

    (School of Economics, Anhui University, Hefei 230022, China)

Abstract

Promoting the construction of national-level high-tech zones as green pioneer zones is a necessary condition for achieving high-quality development. Based on panel data from 254 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2018, in this paper, the difference-in-difference (DID) is used to empirically examine the influence effect of the establishment of national high-tech zones on local urban air pollution, and the spatial difference-in-difference (SDID) is used to explore its spatial spillover effect. It was found that the annual average P M 2.5 concentration in cities with national high-tech zones decreased by about 1.8% compared with cities without national high-tech zones, and there was a positive spillover effect on the annual average P M 2.5 concentration in nearby cities. Industrial structure upgrading and technological innovation effects are two important transmission paths for the establishment of national high-tech zones to influence urban air pollution; the heterogeneity analysis shows that the establishment of national high-tech zones has more significant implications for the improvement of air pollution in non-resource cities and less developed areas in the west, and the air pollution improvement effect of “growing” national high-tech zones is more desirable than that of “mature” national high-tech zones. Our empirical results conclude that we should continue to encourage the promotion of national high-tech zones, optimize the business environment, improve preferential policies, and design a combination of policy instruments scientifically according to local conditions in order to give full play to the effect of national high-tech zones on urban air-pollution improvement.

Suggested Citation

  • Deya Hua & Jingfeng Hu, 2023. "Whether the Establishment of National High-Tech Zones Can Improve Urban Air Pollution: Empirical Evidence from Prefecture-Level Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:12:p:9754-:d:1174223
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/12/9754/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/12/9754/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simon Alder & Lin Shao & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2016. "Economic reforms and industrial policy in a panel of Chinese cities," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 305-349, December.
    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. Laiqun Jin & Xiuyan Liu & Sam Hak Kan Tang, 2021. "High-Technology Zones, Misallocation of Resources among Cities and Aggregate Productivity: Evidence from China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-11, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    2. Xin Nie & Jianxian Wu & Han Wang & Weijuan Li & Chengdao Huang & Lihua Li, 2022. "Contributing to carbon peak: Estimating the causal impact of eco‐industrial parks on low‐carbon development in China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1578-1593, August.
    3. Li, Jiaxin & Zhan, Shaoguo & Wang, Xuetian, 2025. "Can special economic zones in China enhance firm's global value chain position?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 361-372.
    4. Xiaolin Yu & Kai Wan, 2025. "Can removing regional barriers reduce carbon emissions in border regions? Quasi-natural experiments from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 1-29, April.
    5. Kahn, Matthew E. & Sun, Weizeng & Wu, Jianfeng & Zheng, Siqi, 2021. "Do political connections help or hinder urban economic growth? Evidence from 1,400 industrial parks in China," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. David H. Autor & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson, 2016. "The China Shock: Learning from Labor-Market Adjustment to Large Changes in Trade," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 205-240, October.
    7. Gao, Ming & Gu, Qiankun & He, Shijun, 2022. "Place-based policies, administrative hierarchy, and city growth: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    8. Yufeng Wang & Shijun Zhang & Luyao Zhang, 2023. "The Impact of Location-Based Tax Incentives and Carbon Emission Intensity: Evidence from China’s Western Development Strategy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-23, February.
    9. Funke, Michael & Tsang, Andrew & Zhu, Linxu, 2018. "Not all cities are alike: House price heterogeneity and the design of macro-prudential policies in China," BOFIT Discussion Papers 18/2018, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    10. Zheng, Liang, 2021. "Job creation or job relocation? Identifying the impact of China's special economic zones on local employment and industrial agglomeration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    11. Zhang, Lihua & Chen, Xinyu & Xu, Zheng, 2024. "Can development zones reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions of enterprises? Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    12. Mitsuo Inada, 2022. "Promotion or liberalization: The effect of targeted investment policies on foreign direct investment inflows," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 489-505, December.
    13. Siegloch, Sebastian & Wehrhöfer, Nils & Etzel, Tobias, 2021. "Direct, Spillover and Welfare Effects of Regional Firm Subsidies," CEPR Discussion Papers 16129, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    14. Nannan Wang & Dengfeng Cui, 2023. "Impact of demonstration zone policy on agricultural science and technology innovation: evidence from China," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Ji, Mianmian & Lv, Wendai, 2022. "Demonstration zones reform and corporate philanthropy: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    16. Shawn Xiaoguang Chen & Yudan Cheng & Liutang Gong & Wenjia Tian, 2023. "A Big Push of Panda from the Ground: Land Subsidy and Structural Transformation in China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 23-09, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    17. Wang, Ting & Chanda, Areendam, 2018. "Manufacturing growth and local employment multipliers in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 515-543.
    18. Zhi Chen & Jinfeng Yang & Peigong Li & Stavros Sindakis, 2024. "Navigating the Knowledge Economy: Unraveling the Impact of Executive Policy Cognition on ESG Performance in China’s A-Share Listed Companies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(4), pages 15788-15832, December.
    19. Wu, Yiyun & Zhu, Xiwei & Groenewold, Nicolaas, 2019. "The determinants and effectiveness of industrial policy in china: A study based on Five-Year Plans," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 225-242.
    20. Du, Mengfan & Zhang, Yue-Jun, 2023. "The impact of producer services agglomeration on green economic development: Evidence from 278 Chinese cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:12:p:9754-:d:1174223. 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.